Heart of Darkness
by AzureSpider
Summary: Taking place after ME 2's end. The Collector Base is gone, and for a moment, it seems that Shepard can relax. Until he gets caught in the war between Liara and the Shadow Broker. Novelization of LotSB. Shep is Paragon, spacer/war-hero. Shepard/Miranda
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: And so begins our story! Now just to clarify, the actual level isn't taking place here. This is the aftermath of the Collector Base mission.**

Prologue

Commander Daniel Shepard sat down in his seat and did his best to relax into it, breathing a deep sigh of relief as he shut his eyes. It was finally over for now. The Collector Base had been destroyed along with all of its insectoid occupants, the Human-Reaper had gone down as well, save for one piece that Mordin was currently busily analyzing in his lab, and best of all, the Reapers were still stuck in Dark Space. For one moment it seemed, Shepard could relax in full and maybe even enjoy himself _without _the knowledge of just how much was at stake hanging over his head like the Sword of Damocles as he did so.

But of course that wasn't possible. Not when Shepard knew that the Reapers _were _still out there and they _would _inevitably come back to perform their mass-genocide. And when they did, Shepard and whatever he could muster would be there to face them head-on. It seemed like a fool's dream sometimes; it did, after all, take so many ships just to destroy one reaper, but Shepard tried to hold onto hope. Because as corny and clichéd as it sounded, hope was all there was left to hold onto in times like these.

_Who knows? _Shepard thought half-jokingly. _Maybe Sovereign was just a particularly tough Reaper…_

Deciding to throw off his worries of the Reapers and their inevitable arrival for at least a little while, Daniel took to admiring his N7 armor. It wasn't a whole lot different from the standard: red stripe, logo…it was dark black as opposed to the usual charcoal color, but that wasn't exactly a large difference. In the end, the biggest difference and the most defining feature of it was the "Death Mask" he had gotten from a Krogan merchant on Tuchunka. Daniel liked the look of it, so he decided to buy it.

All of a sudden, EDI's blue orb appeared, shaking Shepard out of his thoughts. He turned to her.

"What is it EDI?"

"Apologies for interrupting Commander, but executive Lawson would like to speak with you"

_Miranda. _Shepard's XO, 2nd-in-command, and former Cerberus loyalist. The one who had led the effort to bring him back…and she had since become even more to him.

He definitely wasn't go to deny the woman he loved. Shepard nodded.

"Thanks EDI. I'll be down. Can speak to the rest of the crew too while I'm down there…"

Shepard got up and took the elevator down to the Crew Quarters. Upon exiting, he made his way to Miranda's office and entered. As usual, she was busy working on something or another. She smiled at him as she saw him come in.

"Hello Com-Shepard. Thank you for stopping by"

Shepard nodded and smiled. Miranda was still getting used to referring to him by his name and not as "commander". They had become closer then that.

"Of course Miranda. I always have time for you"

Miranda chuckled lightly. "Don't get sappy on me Shepard. I…I wanted to speak to you about something important…"

"What is it?"

"I…well…Shepard, I know our relationship has…_changed_ a great deal since our first meetings at the Lazarus station…"

Shepard chuckled. "I'll say. I'm not a pile of meat and tubes being pieced together again anymore"

Miranda struggled to suppress her own laugh and then said, keeping her voice even: "You know what I mean. We've become so much closer recently…and you've since proven to me that you're genuinely interested…so I have to ask: are you still interested? Is this more then just something fleeting I mean…"

Shepard raised an eyebrow in response to that but then replied: "Well I'm not sure Miranda. I mean, given everything that's happening right now, in the galaxy, with the Reapers and everything, I don't even know _what's _going to happen, but…Miranda I do care about you, you know that. I don't _want_ this to be just a fleeting thing"

Miranda made a faint smile. "That's…that's good to know. But if that's the case then…"

Miranda's face fell for a moment and her demeanor took an expression of uncertainty that Shepard had never seen on her before.

"Miranda…is something wrong?"

"Shepard I…I have something I need to tell you."

Shepard's face took on an expression of great concern. He didn't want to see Miranda upset or distraught.

"Miranda what's wrong?"

"I…" There was silence for a moment as Miranda's face took on a contemplative expression. Then, she sighed deeply and said: "Its…nothing Shepard. Nothing I can't handle at the moment anyway. I…I'll tell you some other time, maybe…but just…not right now. Please"

Now Shepard was genuinely curious, and also confused, as to what exactly was going on with Miranda, but as she was asking him to drop it he decided to consent to her request. Still, he found himself concerned. Whatever it was it was apparently so serious that she was hesitating to tell him, and that didn't point to anything good. It didn't help that she had brought it up _after _asking about their relationship. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the two were connected…

Shepard was troubled, but decided not to spend more time dwelling on the matter. Miranda didn't wish to discuss with him at the present moment and nothing good would come of him doing guesswork by himself. Best to let it go for now.

With his mildly awkward conversation with Miranda out of the way, Shepard decided to pay his best friend a visit. Going to Garrus' usual place of residence on the Normandy, Shepard approached the Turian sharpshooter. Seeing him, Garrus turned around.

"Shepard. Need me for something?"

"Have you got a minute to talk?" Shepard asked. "Or are you in the middle of some calibrations?" He added playfully.

"Ha ha." Garrus deadpanned but nevertheless cracked a smile at his old friend. "As a matter of fact you're in luck today. Got nothing to do with myself at the moment, so yes, I do have a minute to talk."

Garrus walked forward a bit and sighed. "So. We actually did it. Actually can't say I'm surprised. With you leading us the Collectors never stood a chance."

"Never doubted me for a second then?" Shepard asked amused.

Garrus shook his head. "After everything I watched you do in the hunt for Saren, up to and including getting him to shoot himself in the head, I wouldn't doubt you to do anything."

Shepard nodded. Garrus was referring to Shepard's last meeting with his old rival on the Citadel. Garrus and Liara had been the only two people who actually got to see it…

"I must say though, I _am _surprised that we didn't lose anyone. Not sure how we managed to get away with that on a supposed suicide mission."

Shepard shrugged and grinned. "Guess we just got lucky…or maybe I _am _just that good"

Garrus chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe you are. I just doubt things will go as smoothly for when the Reapers _do _show up…"

Garrus had brought it up again. The inevitable war with the Reapers. Shepard's actions may have delayed them and also robbed them of their shock-troopers, but they would still come regardless. There was no stopping that. Shepard sighed in frustration. If only the Council had listened to him. But instead they wasted every ounce of the time he had given them acting as if there was no threat at all. The Alliance did the same but they at least had a solid excuse: the fight against Sovereign had left them weakened, and in need or rebuilding. They couldn't afford to spread themselves thin now. But what excuse did the Council have? Maintaining stability on their precious Citadel? Didn't seem like that would be worth much if they were all dead.

Daniel sighed. He hated politics. Always did, always would. He had always tried to give the Council the benefit of the doubt but now he wasn't so sure just how much longer he could keep doing that.

_At least they reinstated me… _Shepard thought bitterly.

"Shepard? You alright?"

Shepard snapped back to reality and chastised himself for wandering off on a tangent _again. _The lack of action really was making him more relaxed if his mind had become so susceptible to wandering.

"Yeah, I'm fine Garrus. Sorry. Got lost in thought for a moment…"

"Let me guess: Reaper-related woes?"

"Something like that"

"Well, I'm not going to lie, they're on my mind too. Probably everyone else's too if I had to guess. I'm sure they all just want to be like the Council and act like its not a problem but…well, I think after everything this ship's seen we all know better."

Shepard nodded. "I just hope you pack enough guns for Armageddon"

Garrus burst out laughing. "HA! Always do. The Reapers aren't going to turn me and my people into drooling husks…so, something else you wanted to talk about commander?"

Shepard considered. For a moment he thought about speaking to him regarding his relationship with Miranda but decided against it. While Garrus was nowhere near as anti-Cerberus as most of the other members on his team, he still had no idea what he would think of his commander and best friend sleeping with the organization's former 2nd-in-command, and it was also doubtful that he could offer any helpful ideas or advice regarding their last awkward conversation.

So Shepard just shook his head and said: "Talk to you later Garrus…assuming you won't just be busy calibrating something next time I come down"

"You know that joke wasn't as funny the second time" Garrus deadpanned. Then he made a sly grin and added: "And one day all these calibrations might just save your life"

"I'm anxiously awaiting the day"

-X-

As Shepard returned to the CIC, he ran into Mordin making his way back to his tech labs, his arms filled with a variety of items and technical implements that Shepard couldn't identify on the spot. As it was, he almost caused the entirety of what Mordin was carrying to spill out on the floor.

"Ah Shepard. Pardon me. Just on way back to lab. Lots of data to go through, Reaper piece fascinating, just needed to get more tools *sharp inhale* be there if you need me"

Shepard couldn't help but find Mordin's style of speech amusing, mixing perfectly with his generally jovial and upbeat nature. As had been the case before, Mordin had piqued Shepard's curiosity with his ramblings about research.

"So…the Reaper piece I brought back keeping you occupied?"

Mordin smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. Reaper Heart fascinating. Unlike anything else ever seen, totally unique make-up, due at least partly to mix of organic and synthetic. Will enjoy studying."

"Wait a minute…Reaper "heart"

Mordin nodded. "Code name given to Reaper piece you brought back from Collector base, thought it physically resembled human heart, also located in similar position, finally matches up with your decision. Seemed like good label"

Matched up with his decision. Now that was an interesting thing to say. At first Shepard wasn't sure what exactly Mordin meant but then realized that he was referring to his decision to destroy the Reaper base rather then keep it around. In effect, Shepard had gone with his "heart" and chosen the right decision, rather then sparing the Collector Base, which may have been the "logical" decision. It made sense when he thought of it that way.

Shepard nodded. "Enjoy yourself Mordin"

Mordin nodded rapidly. "Oh yes. Will definitely enjoy myself. So much to study, so much to learn, *sharp inhale*. Feel young again"

And with that, Mordin was off, and Shepard could swear that he heard him humming the Gilbert and Sullivan theme as he did…

-X-

As Shepard made his way into the main area of the CIC floor, he heard Kelly Chambers call out to him: "Commander you've received a new message at your private terminal"

Nodding, Shepard walked over to the terminal and read the message:

_To: Shepard  
From: Cerberus Information Processing_

We're aware that your old friend Liara T'Soni has been hunting for the Shadow Broker for several years. We wouldn't mind helping her in that hunt, given the Broker's past work for the Collectors. We recently uncovered some information that might give Liara a lead on where to find the Shadow Broker's base of operations, but unfortunately, she doesn't have much faith in Cerberus intel. If you'd visit Illium and pass it on to her as a gesture of goodwill, we'd appreciate it.

Shepard read the message carefully and with interest. He honestly couldn't blame Liara when it came to the last bit. Daniel had taken out one or two Cerberus cells during his hunt for Saren, and from what little he knew of the organization, his opinion of them was not a good one. As Miranda had until recently been a die-hard Cerberus loyalist he had wisely chosen to avoid discussing that particular topic with her if at all possible, knowing that their conflicting views on the organization would do no good for any kind of relationship Shepard wished to pursue. So he judged her as a person instead of as a Cerberus loyalist and had come out ahead. And now that she had finally seen for herself what Cerberus was really like, first at Aite and then at the Collector Base, with the Illusive Man wanting to keep a base that had liquefied millions of humans alive, he no longer had to skirt around the issue of their divided loyalties quite as much.

But Shepard's mind was going off on a tangent and he quickly snapped it back to the task at hand. Cerberus had information on the Shadow Broker, but Liara would only trust it if it came from Shepard's mouth. Quite honestly Shepard was surprised that Cerberus was giving him this information at all, since after destroying the Collector Base Shepard had made it pretty clear to the Illusive Man that he was done dancing to his tune and that he had either work with him or get out of his way. Not exactly the best of terms to part on.

That in turn made Shepard wonder: was this information even genuine? Cerberus and the Illusive Man could just be trying to get some payback by feeding Shepard's old friends and allies false information, information which could send them on a wild goose chase at best and get them killed at worst. Not a chance Shepard was prepared to take. If only he had some way of verifying it…

As it stood, he did. Shepard checked the date the message had first appeared on his private terminal. It was the day the Normandy's crew had been abducted by the Collectors and Shepard and his crew had been away cleaning up Dr. Gavin Archer's mess on Aite. Shepard hadn't had time to check his private terminal after that until now. So that meant that it probably wasn't a trap. Shepard had never trusted Cerberus, but during their partnership they _had_ supplied reasonable intel and hadn't really attempted to screw him over save for the Collector Ship incident. So that probably meant he could trust this lead…

Shepard thought about it. As it was he currently had nothing better to do, so he figured he might as well go investigate it.

Shepard went up to the galaxy map and set a course for Illium.

**Author's Note: Well, so far so good. **

**Mordin Solus is easily my favorite party member, by far. But man is he a challenge to right. Not only did I have to nail his unique way of speaking, I also had to be careful to choose the right words for him. He almost never uses "I" or anything too informal for instance.**

**And just to clarify, this will **_**not **_**be a mere walkthrough. I'll be trying to add my own stuff where I can to make it feel more unique then that. I hope you all enjoy!**


	2. Return to Illium

Chapter 1: Return to Illium

Upon arriving on Illium, Shepard decided to go out and see Liara by himself. As it appeared at the moment, all Shepard was going to be doing was give Liara some information. No shooting required. But Shepard did pack his usual arsenal just in case.

Shepard made his way through the crowds of humans, Asari, and Volus and made his way up to wear Liara's office was, also noticing that her Asarti receptionist was not there. Curious, Shepard walked in and saw Liara working in a manner that reminded him of Miranda's usual position on the Normandy. Liara looked up from her work and smiled at Shepard as he walked in.

"Shepard. It's good to see you again. What can I do for you?"

"First…" Shepard asked as he took his seat. "Just out of curiosity, where's your receptionist?"

"Oh, you mean Nyxeris? I recently uncovered evidence that she was…working with the Shadow Broker. I…spoke to her about that"

The hesitant pause in that last bit told Shepard everything he needed to know, but Liara also added, in a cold detached sort of way: "Her barriers needed practice. Practice I'm afraid she won't be getting"

Shepard nodded understandingly. _Liara's become even colder then I thought _Shepard thought grimly, remembering how when he had first met her she was totally harmless and innocent. Well, he supposed that almost being killed several times and facing down a threat capable of ending all life in the galaxy had a tendency to rob one of their innocence. Amazing then that he remained so upbeat and friendly most of the time…

"Anyway…" Shepard said, returning to the task at hand. "I know you're looking for the Shadow Broker. Cerberus gave me some data on where to find him. Interested?"

"Absolutely! I had no idea…" Liara drifted off for a moment before standing up. "Let me see what you've got."

Shepard showed Liara his, or rather Cerberus' findings, and Liara scanned them over with an intensity that he hadn't often seen in her.

"Hmm…it looks like a leaked transmission between Shadow Broker operatives. Some hints as to the location, and…"

As Liara was saying this, a Drell suddenly appeared on the data-pad, catching both Shepard and Liara's attention. He resembled Thane's son Kolyat only with a different skin tone. Shepard looked at Liara and could see her expression grow grim and serious.

"It's about Feron…" Then her expression became one of hopefulness and relief. "He's still alive"

"Who's Feron?" Shepard asked

Liara paused before saying softly: "He was a friend. He helped me recover your body from the Shadow Broker"

So the Shadow Broker had tried to grab him when he was dead. Not exactly a pleasant revelation. Shepard had to ask: "Why did the Shadow Broker want my corpse?"

"He was going to sell you to the Collectors but Feron and I stopped him. Feron sacrificed himself to save me"

"So you rescued me? Then how did I end up with Cerberus?"

"Well, they gave me intel to help recover you. They actually put Feron with me in the first place. After I got out, I gave you to them. They said they could bring you back"

"You kept me out of the Collector's hands. Without you, I couldn't have come back. Thank you"

"I didn't know how you'd feel when Cerberus restored you. If you'd feel betrayed or…well, they did bring you back, and now they're giving me a chance to find Feron"

Shepard thought about it. What Liara had said was true, and it was things like these that had kept him from being _too _hostile to the Illusive Man when he'd been forced to work with him. He was a snake, and Shepard didn't like his organization, but they _had _brought him back from the dead, and spent two years and over four billion credits to do it, so if nothing else, he had been grateful for that, even if it wasn't for altruistic reasons.

_And without them… _Shepard thought. _I'd have never met Miranda…_

So in the end Shepard concluded that while Cerberus was evil, they weren't without their moments.

_Still don't regret jumping ship for one second though…_

Liara finally set down the datapad and sighed. "After two years, I hadn't even dreamed…"

"It sounds like you and Feron were close" Shepard observed.

"It's funny…he betrayed me more then once. He was double-dealing for Cerberus For the Shadow-Broker…but in the end, he sacrificed himself for me…I owe him"

"Well I guess any friend of yours is a friend of mine. What's the next step?"

"I…I don't know. I need to prepare, to think. I'm going home. Use my terminal if you need any local intel"

And with that, Liara grabbed something off the table and exited almost hurriedly, which caught Shepard's attention. He made a mental note to be ready in case things took an ugly turn, and then asked Liara as she was exiting: "You OK?"

"I've spent two years plotting revenge…now I have the chance to make it a rescue"

"Let me help" Shepard offered. "I can come by your apartment"

Liara nodded. "Okay. Hopefully I'll have a plan by then. Thank you Shepard."

As Liara left, Shepard considered his current position. What had started out as a simple delivery of information had turned into a rescue mission. Now he knew he would need back-up. He radioed the Normandy: "This is Commander Shepard. Tell Executive Lawson and Legion to come to my position ASAP"

"Understood Commander"

Shepard considered his choices. Miranda, he suspected, was due partly to personal bias, but she was more then skilled enough to back up the decision. As for Legion, he was the one non-hostile Geth Shepard had ever encountered, and through him he had gotten a completely different view of the synthetic race. He easily rivaled Garrus as the best sniper on the squad (something he would _never _say to anyone else, least of all Garrus) and was also just good with tech as Tali was (also something he would never say to anyone else). And he, the Soldier, was a perfect complement for their tech and biotic-heavy abilities. In the end, a fairly evened out and balanced squad.

_This shouldn't be too hard._

**Author's Note: Oh, Shepard. Haven't you ever heard of tempting fate? Anyway, yes, I know it's a short chapter. Don't worry the others will be longer, I promise.**


	3. Investigation

Chapter 2: Investigation

Shepard made sure his arsenal was ready during the trip to Liara's apartment. Due to the collapsibility of weapons in this day and age, coupled with his soldier's training, Shepard had the ability to haul around no less then five different weapons: a handgun, in this case a Carnifex-Hand Cannon he had gotten from Mordin Solus when he'd first met the good doctor on Omega, a Scimitar shotgun that he rarely used except against Husks, a Viper Sniper Rifle, that felt more like an assault rifle with a scope then any sniper rifle he had ever used, and his two personal favorites: the Revenant Machine Gun, which he had found on the Collector Ship, and a Collector Particle Beam, acquired on Harvest and now possibly one of the last remaining Collector items in existence. Ironic it was being used by the man who had wiped them all out.

It was nightfall by the time Shepard and company arrived at Liara's apartment, with the night sky lit up by the occasional flash of lightning. Exiting the car, Shepard led the way inside…and was greeted with police officers and a crime scene set-up.

"Seal off those trace samples and get them back to the lab!" One cop ordered calmly.

"We got multiple shots fired" another cop, an Asari said into her Omni-Tool's communicator. "Yeah, techs are going over the place now"

"Central, we got an open carrier on this end" a Turian cop said. "Switching to a coded relay"

"What's going on?" Shepard asked.

"This area is sealed off" a purple-skinned Asari cop said bluntly. "Please step back sir"

"Sealed off? Why?"

"Someone tried to kill your friend Commander Shepard" a female voice said. Shepard turned to the source of the voice and saw another Asari, this one with the usual light blue skin but with purple tattoos on her face, and clad in impressive looking dark blue armor with a white center, some spare thermal clips strapped to one arm, and uneven shoulder pieces. She turned to the Asari policewoman:

"Thank you officer. Your people are dismissed"

Daniel, Miranda, and Legion walked through, the latter's appearance clearly perturbing the Asari officer. She turned back to the other Asari.

"You can't do that!" She protested.

The Asari stopped, then looked back over her shoulder and said simply: "Already done"

At this, the other officers left. The lead officer looked immensely annoyed, but said nothing more and left with the others.

"Tela Vasir" the one Asari said formally. "Special Tactics and Recon"

"A Spectre?" Miranda asked, being the first to point out the obvious.

"Yes. And you…a…" Vasir's eyes fell on the Cerberus logo that was still on Miranda's cat-suit. "A…Cerberus operative I see"

"Formerly" Miranda said quickly. "I…had an ethical disagreement with the recent ways Cerberus was conducting itself, so I resigned"

"Of course you did" Vasir said with a slight grin. Her eyes fell to Legion. "And a Geth. I must say you keep interesting company commander"

"Please don't shoot him. He's not hostile I swear"

"This unit has no intentions of attacking Spectre Agent Vasir unless ordered" Legion said simply in its usual monotone.

"Dully noted" Vasir said. "So, Shepard. I heard you were reinstated. You always did do good work"

"Thanks. Yeah, so long as I stay in the Terminus Systems anyway"

Vasir nodded understandably. "So, I assume you had business with your friend this evening commander?"

Shepard relaxed a little. Vasir seemed civil enough. Good. The last thing he wanted was another Saren.

"Liara was following a lead on the Shadow Broker"

"The Shadow Broker? Dangerous enemy to have"

"What are the facts so far?"

"About 25 minutes ago, someone took a shot at T'soni. Note the bullet holes"

Shepard turned his gaze to the windows and saw indeed that someone had fired sniper rounds through the windows. That they hadn't shattered completely suggested safety glass, or, more likely a kinetic barrier.

Vasir continued: "She stuck around for four minutes before leaving the building. Whatever she was doing was important"

"Seems rather reckless and stupid if you ask me" Miranda said simply with a shrug. Shepard could agree with her on the first part at least but said nothing in response. Instead he asked Vasir: "If Liara isn't here, where is she?"

"If I knew that" Vasir said simply, "I wouldn't be sifting through her crap. All I know is that there is no blood or body, which means that T'soni got away, and unscratched too. I guess the sniper didn't plan on her kinetic barrier. Clever girl. Paranoid, but clever"

_She's definitely changed _Shepard thought before asking Vasir: "Did the police find anything when they arrived?"

"Just the mess and the bullet holes. I gave them a gold star for finding the bullet holes"

"I like her" Miranda said with a smile. She turned to Shepard. "Are we still recruiting commander?"

Shepard grinned in response to Miranda's light wit and then said to Vasir: "Liara was expecting me. She would have left a message here…her office wasn't safe"

"I'm not surprised. Illium is just Omega with expensive shoes"

"At least I don't feel like I need a shower every time I leave" Miranda said with a shrug.

Vasir chuckled in response to that. "True enough. I seem to remember Nihlus preferring this place too…" then Vasir said, more seriously as she returned to the task at hand: "I haven't found anything useful in tracking her down yet. You knew T'soni better than I do. Where would she have hidden her back-ups?"

"Let me take a look around and then get back to you"

Vasir chuckled. "Heh. I like you Commander. Knock yourself out. I'll be waiting over there"

Vasir walked off, leaving Shepard to conduct his impromptu investigation.

_Always wanted to be like Sherlock Holmes _Shepard joked to himself before beginning his search. Before he did, he pulled Miranda to one side and asked her: "Miranda, I've been meaning to ask you and I know this isn't the best time but…about our last talk…"

"I…later Shepard please. This…this isn't the time. I'll tell you I promise just…not right now. Let's just concentrate on finding your friend."

Shepard nodded. "Alright. Oh and just a tip: Liara is obsessed with the Protheans. You find anything related to them, that might be a good place to start."

Miranda nodded. "Understood commander"

As Miranda walked off to search in one area and Legion just stood alert, Shepard went upstairs to investigate. The first thing of note that he saw was a picture sitting on Liara's bed. Curious, Shepard picked it up and examined it. The second he did, the picture changed.

_Interesting. _Shepard thought. _The picture changing to my touch likely means its keyed to my ID…_

Taking a look at what the picture showed now, Shepard could see that it was a Prothean dig-site, confirming his earlier suspicion that Liara hid anything of import in a Prothean-related artifact. It was about then when Legion's artificial voice rang out: "Shepard Commander, we have found something that we believe to be of relevance"

"Understood. I'm coming down now"

And with that, Shepard made his way down to where Legion was and saw him standing in front of a framed artifact that Shepard recognized from the design as Prothean.

"We overheard your instructions to Executive Lawson concerning Prothean items being a viable first place to look for items and evidence concerning Information Broker T'soni. We believe that this Prothean artifact may contain something"

"Uh…thanks Legion. Let me check"

Shepard examined the framed case and placed his hand to the glass. As luck would have it, a gray-colored tray slid out from a slot at the top of the display box, and on it was a small device of some kind with blinking red lights. Shepard turned to Miranda and Tela Vasir, who were both also in the process of searching and called for them to come over. Vasir eyed the device with a keen interest.

"That looks like a back-up disc of some kind" Miranda said. Vasir nodded. "Sounds about right to me. Let's try it on her terminal"

Shepard did so and inserted the disc into a terminal. An image of a Salarian in light green and gray garb showed up on the many monitors.

"Looks like she recorded a call" Vasir observed.

"_Have you got anything for me Sekat?" _Liara asked on the recording.

"_It was tricky" _The Salarian replied _"But you paid for the best. I can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe even a system"_

"_How soon can you have it?" _Liara asked anxiously.

"_Shouldn't take long" _Sekat replied. _"Come to my office. Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon Trade Center. Gotta say though T'soni—you're making me a little nervous. How big is the trouble that could come out of this?"_

"_Relax Sekat" _Liara said in a decidedly un-relaxed tone. "_I'll see you in a few hours"_

And with that, the call, and the recording, ended.

"This must be important" Shepard said. "The Shadow Broker's people already tried to kill her once."

"I know where the Dracon Trade Center is" Vasir relied. "My car's outside."

"Let's go"

-X-

Vasir's orange sky-car finally arrived at the Dracon Trade Center and touched down. The doors opened, and Vasir and Shepard's team all filed out. Shepard and Vasir took the lead. As they went up the stairs, Vasir told Shepard: "The Baria Frontiers offices are located on the third floor. I don't hear police chatter. We must have missed the party"

Then, as if Vasir had tempted fate, a large fireball ripped through the upper floors of the building, piercing the air with its boom and then dissipating as quickly as it came.

"Liara's in there!" Shepard shouted.

Several more explosions tore through the same floor, blasting out more windows and creating enough of a shock-wave that it knocked Shepard and Vasir flat on their backs. Miranda and Legion were far enough away that they held firm.

A thick pillar of black smoke was now rising from the bombed out area of the building, and the falling rubble had left some people dead. Shepard and Vasir rose to their feet as Miranda and Legion ran forward, the Geth stating the very obvious in its usual monotone: "This is a problematic turn of events"

"I'll say…" Shepard said, viewing the scene of carnage and devastation before him with disgust.

"They just took out _three_ floors to make sure she's dead…" Vasir exclaimed, understandably horrified. She turned to Shepard: "I'll grab the skycar and seal off the building from the top"

"Understood. We'll start down here and work out way up"

"Just leave some for me" Vasir said as she got into her skycar.

Shepard, Miranda, and Legion drew their weapons and made their way past the injured civilians, none of whom had any idea what was going on. As the group made their way through the bottom floor, Shepard caught sight of an employee who had apparently been killed in the explosion. Continuing up the floors, the trio came upon more dead and dying employees, one of them saying something that caught Shepard's attention right before he expired: "Mercs…came from the smoke…set the bombs…killing everyone…"

Shepard and crew kept moving past the devastation, eventually coming to an elevator. Shepard tried it without success. He radioed Vasir: "Vasir, the elevators are out and building security is down"

"No alarms, no police…" Vasir muttered. "Very professional"

Choosing to ignore the noticeable lack of emotion in Vasir's voice as she made her observations, Shepard continued up the stairs, soon coming upon yet more bodies, both employees and customers. One of them, Shepard noticed, had clearly been shot to death.

"Vasir, some of the victims down here have bullet wounds. Watch yourself. They used military-grade hardware"

"Bullet wounds? Guess this was more then just an explosion"

Going up the stairs and past an ATM machine, Shepard saw what was clearly a bomb nearby, albeit one that hadn't gone off…yet. On closer inspection, Shepard saw that it wasn't armed.

"Vasir, I found a military-grade explosive device. It hasn't been armed"

"Sloppy work. You use that kind of hardware when you don't have time to plan"

"Well, I'm at the Baria Frontiers office. Liara signed in just a few minutes ago"

"Understood commander"

Moving forward some more, an explosion suddenly ripped through the area, looking almost like a miniature sun. Guessing that it was some kind of flash-grenade, Shepard ordered his group to fall back behind cover as indeed, some armored men came swarming in. Legion sniped the first one while Shepard gunned down the second with his Revenant.

"Vasir I'm pinned down!" Shepard shouted as he dodged assault-rifle fire. "Mercs! And they're well armed!"

"Say hello to the Shadow Broker's private army commander"

Racing to take cover near the doorway, Shepard machine-gunned another goon as Legion sniped two more and Miranda blasted the others back with biotics.

A rocket whizzed through the air. Luckily it sailed past Shepard and his team and exploded harmlessly against the wall behind them. Miranda locked the heavy in a biotic pull before he could fire off another shot and Legion finished the job with another well-aimed shot from its M-98 Widow. The others retaliated with assault rifle fire, but Shepard replied in kind, leaving them all bullet-ridden and dead.

With the firefight concluded, Shepard got out from behind cover and examined the dead Shadow Broker soldiers. They wore armor almost identical to the ones worn by Eclipse and Blue Suns troopers, but as these men were in a since, mercenaries hired by the Shadow Broker, this made a certain kind of sense to Shepard. The only differences between theirs and the armor of Eclipse and Blue Suns troopers were the color scheme (black, white, and gray), and the logo, which looked vaguely like two red back-to-back boomerangs.

Moving past the bodies, Shepard directed his team through burning hallways and more Shadow Broker goons, who were generally cut down in short order, save for one Asari vanguard who managed to take a bit more punishment courtesy of her barrier before Miranda's Warp short-circuited it and then her Tempest SMG finished the job.

As Shepard and his squad continued to advance, they ran into yet more Shadow Broker agents. One such agent attempted to skewer Shepard with a bladed attachment on his shotgun. Shepard side-stepped out of the way of the thrust in the nick of time and whacked the goon with the butt-end of his Revenant, knocking his helmet askew and exposing his face as that of a Batarian.

"Damn!" he shouted, struggling to get his helmet back on fully, time Legion had to put a fatal bullet in his chest.

As he fell down dead, Shepard took a look at the crude blade attachment on the shotgun.

"Guess the Shadow Broker's men favor unconventional and probably illegal weapons and upgrades" Miranda observed. "Can't say I'm surprised really."

"Me neither" Shepard said. "I've seen bladed shotguns like this one once or twice before, and both times it was Batarian thugs using them"

Continuing past more hallways and into another room, Shepard and company encountered a small army of Shadow Broker men. The leader, a Salarian, pointed at Shepard the second he saw him.

"Shoot him down!" the Engineer shouted as he activated his Tech armor. Shepard leaped behind cover as a pair of heavies left fly with rockets. Miranda protected herself with a mix of agility and biotics while Legion sniped the two heavies behind cover.

Shepard attempted to shoot down the Salarian leader but a withering hail of assault rifle fire from the Salarian's cohorts kept him behind cover. An engineer and some back-up rushed in from another side, and Shepard gunned them down before they could group up with the Salarian's forces. Then he retreated fully behind cover again and waited for an opening. He got it when a biotic explosion that could only be Miranda using Overload detonated within the Shadow Broker force's ranks. Rolling to one side out of cover like the action movie heroes of old, Shepard took aim at the now disarrayed grouping of goons and let loose with his Revenant, cutting down all but the Salarian and one other.

Seeing that the tide of battle had turned against him the Salarian ran, only to be shot in the back by Legion and fall over. That just left the one agent.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I surrender! I surrender!"

Shepard raised his hand as an indication for Miranda and Legion to hold their fire. Moving forward, Shepard approached the one goon, who had laid down his rifle and had his hands in the air. Deciding to try his luck, Shepard asked: "I'm looking for an Asari. Where is she?" He demanded, his voice making it clear that he wasn't messing around.

"Uh….asari…light blue skin?"

"Yes, do you know where she went?"

"Uh, no, but I think I saw a Salarian go down that way…"

The Shadow Broker agent pointed in the direction he had his back to.

"Thank you. Now get out of here"

"I'm going, I'm going…"

And with that the Shadow Broker agent ran off down the halls Shepard, Miranda, and Legion had already come through.

"Well that was certainly compassionate of you" Miranda said.

"There wasn't anything to get out of killing him" Shepard said simply.

"I suppose you're right. Of course I doubt he'd have been so kind if the roles had been reversed, but I don't object to your decision"

"Appreciated. Now let's keep moving"

Moving forward some more, Shepard and company came under fire from more Shadow Broker goons, including another Salarian hefting a rocker launcher.

"Firing high impact shot" The Salarian heavy said before letting fly with a rocket.

Shepard moved out of the way and Miranda gunned him down with her Tempest as Shepard killed the other agents in the area. Moving forward some more, the trio found the next stairway blocked by a torrent of fire. Investigating the adjacent room, Shepard found a Maintenance control. He activated it and online sprinklers came on, dousing the flames. Moving up the stairs, Shepard and company came up to a floor with a balcony. Shepard gunned down the first agent he saw while Miranda hurled the second one over the side with her biotics. A third one came rushing through the doorway and was shot in the head by Legion. Another coming through another doorway on the opposite side met a similar fate. Moving forward into the next room, Shepard came to a locked door. Behind it, he heard a shotgun blast. He turned to Legion: "Legion, get this door unlocked now!"

"Acknowledged"

As Legion set to work, Shepard heard another gun-shot, this one much fainter and likely from a pistol. His Revenant re-loaded and at the ready, he set himself up on one side of the door and Miranda the other. Finally, Legion unlocked the door and the trio made their way in weapons drawn. Shepard saw a dead Shadow Broker agent lying face-first on the floor with a puddle of blood forming beneath his head, and to the side a Salarian who had clearly been killed by a close-range blast from a shotgun, likely from the dead Shadow Broker agent if the M-27 Scimitar lying near his body was any indication.

It was then that the agent's killer stepped out of the shadows.

"Dammit." Vasir said, taking a look over at the dead Salarian who Shepard recognized from the message from Liara's apartment as Sekat. If I had been a few seconds faster I could have stopped him…"

Shepard examined Sekat's body. "No sign of that data Liara talked about. Looks likes a dead end" Shepard said that last bit with a frustrated and exasperated tone. Still no sign of Liara, who if not dead already was definitely in danger. And he was no closer to finding her it seemed.

"Speaking of which…" Vasir said, "…did you find your friend's body?"

"You mean _this_ body?"

Everyone turned around to see Liara enter the stage clad in a mostly white outfit with blue lining on the coat piece. She had a pistol drawn and aimed at Vasir. Shepard came between the two before Liara could shoot.

"Liara this is Vasir. She's a Spectre"

"This is the woman who tried to kill me" Liara said with just a slight hint of anger, which was more emotion then calm and serene Asari maiden usually displayed.

"You've had a rough day so I'll let that slide" Vasir said as she backed away. "Why don't you the put the gun down?" She asked in a tone that bordered on condescending and indeed, Liara didn't seem to take it well.

"I saw you! I doubled back after I left. I watched you break into my apartment!"

"We detect growing tension and increase in violent impulses in both Information Broker T'soni and Spectre Vasir" Legion added unhelpfully. "We believe that additional conflict is imminent"

Ignoring Legion, Shepard confronted Vasir. "You didn't know where Liara went, because she hid the message" Shepard said accusingly. "You needed _me_ to find it for you"

As Shepard said this, he raised his Revenant and pointed it menacingly at Vasir, and Legion and Miranda followed suit with their Widow and Tempest respectively.

"Brilliant deductions detective Shepard" Vasir said sarcastically and then added: "thanks for the help"

Shepard kept his Revenant ready to fire as Liara continued her accusations: "Once she had my location, she signaled the Shadow Broker's forces. They bombed the building to take me out. _She _found Sekat, took his data, and killed him. I'm guessing she's still got the disk on her"

"Good guess" Vassir said simply. "Of course, its not like you'll ever see what's on it…"

Before anyone could do a thing, Vasir became consumed by a biotic field and shattered the window, hurling its broken fragments at Shepard and company in a razor-sharp torrent.

"…_**you pureblood BITCH!**_"

Reacting just in time, Liara and Miranda conjured up a massive biotic forcefield that all the broken glass collided harmlessly with. As this was happening, Vasir bolted, and Shepard gave chase. Tackling Vasir, the two went tumbling out the window. As they plummeted, Vasir became consumed by her biotic field once more and managed to force Shepard off of her, kicking him down to the ground. Shepard landed hard on the floor, and as he forced himself back up, Vasir took the time to flee. But as Shepard looked on, Liara and Miranda leaped down with the aid of their biotics and gave chase. A pair of Shadow Broker agents ran up to try and halt Liara and Miranda's progress but Miranda simply tossed the two away like rag-dolls with her biotics as Liara kept running after Vasir, Miranda following after dealing with the Shadow Broker agents.

By now, Shepard was back on his feet and Legion had run down as well. The two were ready to bolt after Miranda, Liara, and Vasir, but another door opened up and a squad of Shadow Broker agents rushed out. Racing behind cover, Shepard and Legion engaged the squad in a shoot-out. As Legion sniped from behind cover, Shepard opted to follow suit, swapping out his Revenant for his Viper and letting loose with it. Its torrent of laser-like rounds cut down most of the Shadow Broker agents quickly, Legion's powerful M-98 downing any agents Shepard missed with what was almost always only one shot.

But then reinforcements came in, led by another Asari with a barrier, and this time Miranda wasn't around to short-circuit it. So Shepard decided to do things the old-fashioned way.

Popping out from behind cover and taking aim as the assault rifle bullets of the agents whizzed past him, narrowly missing his head in most instances, Shepard unloaded his Viper's ammunition into the Asari leader, the shots first tearing through her barrier and then her armor as if both were nothing but butter. Shepard then fell back behind cover to reload as more assault rifle fire managed to dispel his own personal shields. Fortunately, Legion was there to provide covering fire, and downed the last of the Shadow Broker agents.

"All hostiles terminated. Shepard Commander are you alright?"

"I'm fine Legion. Now come on, let's catch up with Miranda and Liara"

"Acknowledged"

The two raced forward, following the path Miranda and Liara had taken. As they did, Liara's irritated voice came on on the comm: "She's getting away!"

Shepard and Legion kept moving, gunning down a few more Shadow Broker agents that made the mistake of trying to stop them. As they did, the doors opened and a Salarian engineer flanked by a pair of heavies came in. Shepard and Legion raced behind cover as the rockets started to fly, many narrowly missing Shepard and exploding a little too close for comfort, disorienting him a little before he finally got fully behind cover.

"Legion! Use a combat drone to soften these guys up!"

"Acknowledged"

Legion's combat drone floated forward mindlessly and began shooting at the Shadow Broker trio, getting their attention.

"Don't shoot at it!" The Salarian ordered. "They're just using it as a distraction!"

But one of the heavies didn't listen and fired a rocket at the drone, destroying it…but leaving himself open to a fatal sniper shot from Legion.

"Idiots!" the Salarian shouted. Shepard then killed the other heavy with shots from his viper.

"Fuck!" The Salarian cursed. Now he was on his own. A combined sniper assault from Shepard and Legion cut him down quickly.

Shepard and Legion moved through the door the Salarian's group had entered from. Upon going through the door, Shepard saw Miranda slumped behind cover bleeding. Cursing, Shepard ran forward and applied Medi-Gel to her wounds.

"What happened?"

"That bitch is a better biotic then I thought. I took her on. And I lost" Miranda said that last part incredibly bitterly. Shepard could understand it. One of the many things he had come to know about Miranda was that she did _not _like being bested in any of her chosen fields of expertise by anyone.

"Where's Liara?"

"Trying to shoot Vasir down over there" Miranda pointed to the right and sure enough, there were Liara and Vasir engaged in a shoot-out, each one using cover to prevent the other from landing a successful shot. Upon seeing Shepard and Legion, as well as Miranda back on her feet, Vasir retreated behind cover again. Shepard turned to see her sky-car come in, apparently having been summoned to its owner via omni-tool. Racing forward and using biotics to aid her, Vasir leaped into the air and into her waiting sky-car.

"Damn it!" Liara cursed. She then raced to another sky-car that was nearby. Shepard got into the driver's seat, Liara the Passenger's side, and Miranda and Legion filed into the back.

"I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking" Shepard said to Liara in a deadpan

Liara said nothing as Shepard took the wheels of the sky-car. He prayed that he still remembered enough about how to fly one to avoid crashing.

"Come on! She's getting away!" Liara shouted.

Keeping careful track of Vasir's orange sky-car, Shepard gunned his forward, and the stolen blue sky-car zoomed forward after Vasir's.

**Author's Note: Don't worry folks, you'll get your car chase next chapter, I swear. One of my favorite parts of the DLC actually.**


	4. The Chase

Chapter 3: The Chase

"Hang a right! No wait, left!"

"I'm on her" Shepard said in the voice a parent gives a child when they've said something more then once and been answered the exact same way every time. The two sky-cars swerved past a building with a picture of a volus and then kept going from there.

"Hang a left!" Liara urged. Shepard did so, boosting forward once again to keep up with Vasir's faster vehicle. They sped through several sky-scrapers and then swerved around the corner again.

"We're not going into the construction sight are—oh goddess"

Racing through the half-completed building, Shepard kept up his pursuit of Vasir's sky-car, zig-zagging through more buildings and doing his best not to crash into any other sky-cars in the process, silently cursing how rusty his driving skills had become due to years of neglect.

_Where's Joker when you need him?_

Finally, they went through a tunnel, going around the corners and Shepard again trying desperately to avoid crashing into other cars. He almost swerved too late and nearly slammed hood-first into another sky-car, earning him a middle finger from the sky-car's passenger. Shepard ignored it and kept going forward.

Finally coming out of the tunnel, Shepard kept up pursuit, finally managing to adjust a little bit better to the workings of the sky-car and consequentially being able to keep up with Vasir much more easily, until the chase took them into…

"Traffic, incoming traffic!"

"We'll be fine" Shepard reassured Liara as the sky-cars kept up their chase. Then glowing red spheres started showing up.

"She's dropping proximity charges"

"I noticed" Shepard deadpanned as he swerved to avoid them. Then, as they were entering another tunnel, more sky-cars flew in.

"She's got reinforcements!"

"What kind of guns does this thing have?"

"It's a taxi!" Liara said exasperated. "It has a fare meter!"

"Wonderful" Shepard deadpanned back as he kept up the chase, now having to avoid Vasir's allies in addition to the proximity mines and other sky-cars. Not exactly a great position, and it was made worse when one of the aforementioned proximity mines detonated under a truck, sending it straight into the path of Shepard's sky-car.

"Truck…"

"I know"

The now out-of-control truck came tumbling towards them.

"Truck!"

"Could you please _shut up_ for just one moment?" Miranda snapped.

Shepard narrowly avoided the truck, along with the other sky-cars now tumbling out of control into their path. As their sky-car continued to surge forward unhalted Shepard said: "I'm kind of agreeing with Miranda on this one"

Liara huffed indignantly but said nothing in response as they kept up their pursuit out of the tunnel.

"There we go"

"You're enjoying this"

As they kept going, they could see another sky-car zig-zagging erratically near them before colliding right into a building in a fiery explosion that sent the sky-car's remains hurtling in all directions.

"A head-on collision at this speed…"

Shepard chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, I hear those can be bad for you"

"Truck!" Liara shouted.

"Again?" Shepard and Miranda asked in unison. But sure enough, a large vehicle that Shepard would equate more with a shrunken battle-cruiser then a simple truck was now in their path. Shepard forced the sky-car to soar up over it, then circling around and zooming forward after Vasir's car, now headed in the direction of a particularly fancy-looking building. Zooming forward once more, Shepard finally brought his sky-car right up next to Vasir's. Vasir responded by trying to force Shepard's into the path of another oncoming sky-car. Shepard narrowly managed to avoid crashing right into it and then zoomed after Vasir once more, retaliating with some ramming of his own, managing to knock Vasir's sky-car into the path of one of her reinforcements.

The results of the impact were nothing short of spectacular. The sky-car went spiraling out of control until it crashed down on a fancy-looking building. Seeing the impact sight, Shepard directed his sky-car down to it. Upon lading and exiting the sky-car, Miranda and Liara both took in deep sighs of relief.

"Well, I'm certainly never letting you drive us on any of our dates" Miranda said.

"Ah come on" Shepard said grinning. "I wouldn't say I did too bad"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. We're all still alive aren't we?"

"Well thank G-d for small miracles I suppose" Miranda deadpanned

"They're dropping in reinforcements to slow us down!" Liara shouted, interrupting the banter. Sure enough, a sky-car swooped in at that moment and out of it came a squad of four Shadow Broker goons. Shepard immediately let loose with his Revenant, shooting down the Engineer while Liara, Miranda, and Legion killed the other three.

More Shadow Broker agents were dropped off behind the four, and Shepard and company whipped around to meet them. Like their fellows, they didn't last long against the vicious assault of biotics, a tech drone, and the combined firepower of four guns. Two more drop-ships came down with similar payloads. Shepard tossed a grenade into the first one, the blast knocking them all down to the ground. Shepard then finished them off while they were down, with the exception of the Engineer squad-leader who conjured up Tech Armor to protect himself, only to be gunned down anyway by Miranda and Liara's combined firepower. The second drop-ship's group managed to force Shepard behind cover, but Miranda and Liara's combined biotics were more then enough to down them all, save one Batarian agent who Legion managed to finish off after he attempted a thrust with his bladed shotgun only for it to go harmlessly through the hole in Legion's chest.

After fending off the Shadow Broker reinforcements, Shepard and company raced through the parking lot and up to the fancier area of the building. Entering one of the rooms, Shepard could hear someone's voice: "Please let me live, please let me live. I'll do the mantras every week. I'll give to charity. I'll go back to the Citadel and get a good job, I swear!"

Seeing that it was just a scared Asari occupant of the hotel, Shepard investigated another one of the rooms and saw what he recognized as some kind of pornographic video.

"What...kind of hotel is this?"

"Azure." Liara replied matter-of-factly. "It's a luxury resort with an…"exotic" edge. Azure is slang for a part of the Asari body in some areas of Illium."

"_I always thought Azure meant blue" _For a moment, Shepard considered asking Liara what "parts" she was referring to, but as Miranda was there with them he thought better of it. Leaving the room, Shepard finally came to Vasir's crashed sky-car and noticed what he recognized as Asari blood.

"A blood trail…" Liara mused. "Vasir got hurt in the crash"

"That should slow her down."

"She's lost a lot of blood…"

"Well, she's tough, I'll give her that much"

"She's a _spectre_"

"True. Of course if _I'd_ lost that much blood I'd probably either be in the emergency room or a graveyard."

The group kept moving through the admittedly fancy Azure resort, continuing to follow Vasir's blood trail, which went on for a surprising while. As they continued to advance, Shepard saw that there was a dead asari in addition to all the shot LOKI mechs that they had found lying around. Finally, they entered a larger room that was filled with people, apparently in the middle of some sort of party. Shepard saw that Vasir's purple blood was present on the wooden floor, letting him know that she was in the room somewhere but apparently hadn't been outed yet. He was going to change that.

Following the trail, Shepard and company soon came upon Vasir, who in spite of being armored, limping, and trailing blood, had gone completely unnoticed by everyone else.

Until now.

"Vasir, its over!" Liara said, her gun aimed at the spectre.

Vasir said nothing in response, only turning around…and doing a biotic speed charge over to a middle-aged woman with red hair and grabbing her as a hostage, which sent the whole room into a panic. Everybody else bolted for the exits while Shepard, Liara, Miranda, and Legion all drew their weapons and aimed them at Vasir.

"So tell me…" Vasir said to her hostage in a deceptively soothing voice. "What's your name?"

"M…Mariana"

"Mariana, you want to live don't you? Tell those people that you want to live"

Shepard found himself completely disgusted at how far Vasir had fallen, having stooped to the human shield tactic. The kind of thing mercenaries and slavers did but not spectres.

Mariana looked at Shepard with an expression of pure terror and also pleading.

"Please…don't shoot…"

"We'll get you out of here safely Mariana" Shepard reassured her.

"Well" Vasir said. "That's good to hear" Her tone was laced with smugness, almost suggesting that she was enjoying the position she was currently in. Shepard had seen this before. Where before Vasir seemed like Nihlus in reality she was just another Saren, which was the last thing he ever wanted to deal with.

Vasir continued, now sounding quite angry: "All you had to do was walk away. Now it gets ugly." Vasir put the barrel of her Hand-Cannon to Mariana's head, causing Mariana's panicked state to get worse.

"Please" She said desperately, tears streaming down her face. "I have a son"

"A son? I hope he gets to see you again. I've heard losing a parent is just _horrific_ for children. Scars them for life"

Shepard could see Miranda's expression become frosty cold, her pretty face taking on the look of anger and contempt laced with coldness that he had seen on her after she had killed Wilson back at the Lazarus station. And he knew why too. Miranda's relationship with her father had been dysfunctional to put it generously. So for her to see a parent who actually cared about her child being held at gunpoint…Miranda's expression told Shepard what he needed to know concerning her feelings about that. In fairness he felt the same way.

"I'm going to end you Vasir…" Liara said darkly.

"It's okay Liara" Shepard reassured her. "We'll handle it. The usual way." He turned back to Vasir: "Vasir, be reasonable: its four against one. _Its over_."

"No." Vasir said simply but darkly before adding quite smugly. "Now its _**fun**_"

"You want Mariana's little boy to grow up without a mommy Shepard?" Vasir asked, tone dripping with both sadism and mockery before becoming cold and commanding: "Thermal clips on the ground now. Power cells too"

"Go to hell Vasir"

Vasir's face took on an expression of confusion as Shepard's defiance sunk in. Shepard continued: "Vasir, I sacrificed hundreds of human lives to save the Destiny Ascension, I re-unleashed the Rachni on the Galaxy. So your sake, I hope your escape plan doesn't hinge on me hesitating _**to shoot a damn hostage**_" Shepard growled that last part in anger.

"You're bluffing" Vasir said simply.

"Just figure that out?" Shepard asked. "NOW LIARA!"

At this, the table Liara had discreetly levitated with her biotics slammed right into Vasir, disarming her of her hand-cannon and sending her sailing into the air and then into the nearby water. Shepard raced over to Mariana and told her to run as fast as she could. Mariana obliged and Shepard had his gun at the ready as Vasir burst out of the water surrounded by a biotic field. Then, she zipped over to another area with her biotics and drew her Vindicator Assault Rifle, panting deeply and glaring at Shepard.

"You deserved that by the way" he said simply.

Vasir snarled in response and began zipping around with the aid of her biotics. Shepard recognized this tactic. It was the most common, and arguably most effective, tactic employed by Vanguards, a term given to spectres, asari, N7 operatives, and the occasional krogan battlemaster who specialized in using biotics to speed forward and either dodge out of the way of attacks, or, more commonly, to get close to enemies and blast them to pieces with either a shotgun, biotics, or a mix of the two. Those that mastered it, (few ever did) were usually regarded as one-man, or woman, balls of destruction, and Shepard had a feeling that Vasir was one of those few. He decided to count himself lucky then that she used an assault rifle and not a shotgun.

Knowing that snipers would probably be useless against someone who could zip around so quickly, Shepard ordered Legion to change to his own Vindicator and started shooting at Vasir with his Revenant, but only managed to land a few shots before she sped away again. Shepard swerved around and kept up the pressure, but each time he pinned her down, she quickly zoomed out of the way again, all the while peppering Shepard and company with shots from her Vindicator. To make things worse, a lot of his shots didn't even seem to be penetrating Vasir's barrier. That was something that needed to be taken care of.

"Miranda, Liara, Warp on Vasir's barrier now!"

"Understood" the two biotics said in unison and used Warp together on Vasir's barriers, managing to weaken them a good bit before Vasir zipped away again, shooting at Shepard relentlessly with her Vindicator and keeping him behind cover where his options were limited. There was no special ammunition that was effective against biotic barriers, and until Miranda and Liara fully dispelled Vasir's barrier with Warp, his guns ammunition as were were doing little to no damage to it. It was then that Shepard came upon his solution: re-shouldering his Revenant, Shepard drew the gun of his old nemeses and leaped out from behind cover, unleashing the Collector Particle Beam's relentless beam of energy on Vasir's barriers, taking care to stop firing every time she sped away again. The particle beam only had so much power, so he couldn't waste it.

Finally, Vasir retreated to the upper levels of the room, now out of reach. Then, a pair of Shadow Broker engineers rappelled down, intent to finish Shepard and his crew for their boss. Shouldering his collector particle beam and redrawing his Revenant, Shepard took to gunning down the Engineers while Liara and Miranda handled the Rocket Drones that also flew in with overload.

Her minions defeated, Vasir re-joined the battle and unleashed more assault rifle fire on Shepard's allies, forcing them back. Legion continued to shoot at her, and Vasir responded by zooming right up to him and shooting at him mercilessly until Shepard regained her attention by shooting at her several times with his Viper sniper rifle.

Vasir zoomed towards him and unleashed a shockwave attack that knocked Shepard down. Seizing on her chance, Vasir sped forward and began unloading her Vindicator's ammo into Shepard's armor and shields, the latter taking only so much before dispelling. But this attack left Vasir stationary, allowing Shepard to retaliate with his Collector Particle beam, which, coupled with Miranda and Liara's continued usage of Warp, finally managed to destroy Vasir's biotic barrier.

Cursing, Vasir fled to the safety of the upper levels again and shouted on her comm.: "Get down here and _kill Shepard_ dammit!"

_Hmm…it would seem I'm starting to get on her nerves _Shepard mused as more Rocket Drones and Engineers joined the fray. Shepard took potshots at the Engineers from behind cover with his viper while Liara detonated a rocket drone with overload and moved out of the way of the other's shots. Legion and Miranda then destroyed the second drone with a mix of overload and assault rifle fire as Shepard finished off the Engineers.

It was then that Vasir leaped back down into the fray, creating a small biotic shockwave as she landed, but nothing like the one she had hurled at Shepard earlier. She turned to look at him and smirked.

"Miss me?"

She received a torrent of Inferno Ammo fire from Shepard's Revenant as her answer, along with Shepard's quip: "Not particularly"

Vasir sped out of range again, her armor now badly damaged. Shepard re-loaded his Revenant and prepared to shoot at her with it again, knowing now that her barrier was gone his weapons would stand a better chance of doing some actual damage.

Desperately trying to keep track of Vasir in spite of her constant zipping around, Shepard fired at Vasir only to miss more often than not, but he still managed to land a few shots here and there. Legion sent in a combat drone but Vasir destroyed it without so much as breaking a sweat and resumed fire on Shepard, again using shockwave to keep him down before shooting at him relentlessly with her Vindicator, forcing him back behind cover as some of the shots broke through his shields and left a spatter of blood on the floor.

"_I hate being the meat-shield" _Shepard thought as he stayed behind cover and waited for his shields to recharge. As he did, his allies kept up the pressure, but they too were hard-pressed to do much damage before she sped away again.

"I hate Vanguards…" Shepard could hear Miranda mumble as Vasir sped away yet again.

Finally, Shepard got a line of sight with Vasir again and fired once more, the flaming bullets striking with unrelenting power and punching holes in Vasir's armor. Shepard couldn't help but make a small smirk of satisfaction. Her barriers may have shrugged off his gunfire with ease, but now that those were gone, the tables had turned considerably.

And Vasir knew it too. And to make things worse for her, she was starting to tire, all of her physical exertion coupled with her many injuries finally starting to take their toll. Legion's next vocal observation confirmed it: "We have detected a serious drop in heart rate in rogue spectre Vasir, as well as a roughly 5.75% blood loss and growing fatigue. Her chances of survival, regardless of the outcome of this battle, have decreased by approximately thirty—"

Legion was cut off when Vasir unleashed a massive biotic blast that sent Legion soaring through the air before Liara caught him and set him down gently with her biotics.

"Shut up Geth! If I die its with you all dead at my feet!"

She was going all out with her biotics now, and Shepard could see clearly how she was now completely enraged and bloodlusted. That was causing her to lose focus, grow sloppy. Shepard decided to worsen that:

"So let me ask you Vasir!" Shepard shouted out. "…was your father a Krogan battlemaster or a trigger-happy drooling Vorcha? Its kind of hard to tell the difference"

"DON'T MOCK ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Vasir screamed, her biotics flaring up and making it look like she was consumed in blue fire. She began using her biotics to hurl anything within reach at Shepard, including several of the bodies of her own men at him.

"So sorry" Shepard said. "Can't wound your pride after all….so it was a Vorcha right?"

"**I'LL KILL YOU!**" Vasir roared.

"Mmm…meh" Shepard said indifferently.

Vasir screamed in pure, uncontained rage, the blue field surrounding her growing more powerful still, until soon it looked like she had been enveloped completely in a now mostly bright white light. The shockwave knocked Shepard and Legion down, shattered every window in the room, and sent objects flying in every direction. Shepard was glad everyone else had cleared out already.

_Maybe pissing her off wasn't the best idea after all…_

Shepard could see Liara and Miranda still standing, albeit barely, desperately trying to counter Vasir's biotic maelstrom together, a scene that reminded Shepard of Samara and Morinth's face-off back on Omega, only this seemed even grander in scale. He didn't dare intervene this time. At least not yet.

Instead he looked on as Liara and Miranda worked in unison, pooling their combined biotic strength together as they tried to stand their ground against Vasir's relentless rage, but they were both clearly struggling.

"This is _**REAL **_biotic power!" Vasir screamed, her biotic rage somehow worsening and making Jack's fits of anger and rage look like a young child's hissy-fit. Finally, Liara began to stagger, and Vasir seized on the chance to blast her back with all the force she could muster. Liara's body slammed against the nearby wall and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Now only Miranda remained standing. Shepard knew her biotics were good but she was completely outclassed here. Initially planning to charge forward Revenant blazing but thinking better of it, Shepard instead stealthily made his way over to the two…

He watched as Vasir easily overwhelmed Miranda's defenses now that she no longer had Liara's support and viciously tossed her to one side with her biotics, slamming her into the ground with such force that the left side of Miranda's head started trailing blood. Vasir walked over to Miranda with her Vindicator aimed at her.

"Your boyfriend's smart-ass remarks just earned you a slow and painful death Cerberus bitch…"

Seizing on his chance, Shepard activated his omni-blade and rammed it into Vasir's back with as much power and force as he could muster.

For a moment, Vasir just stood there as more purple blood continued to pour out of her body and her mouth until it formed a small puddle before Shepard yanked the Omni-Blade out of her body and Vasir collapsed.

"Always wondered if this damn thing would ever come in handy…" Shepard muttered. Seeing Miranda get back to her feet, he raced to her side, examining the side of her head that was bleeding and applying some Medi-gel to it.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes I'm fine. Thank you Shepard"

Shepard still held onto Miranda for a moment before letting go.

"You had me worried there you know"

Miranda chuckled lightly. "I'm not helpless commander, I can take care of myself"

"Could have fooled me…" a weak voice mumbled.

Shepard and Miranda turned to see that Vasir was miraculously still alive, but that obviously wasn't going to be the case for much longer. She spat out some more purple blood and gave Shepard a cold glare that easily rivaled any he had ever seen Miranda give.

Liara walked forward at that moment and grabbed the disc from Vasir. She held it up to her omni-tool.

"Sakat's personal datapad. This has what we need to find the Shadow Broker"

"You're dead…" Vasir growled with a mouth full of blood. "The Shadow Broker's been in power for decades. He's stronger then _anything_ you've ever faced!"

"Lady, you're talking to the man who killed Saren and the entire Collector race. I think I can handle your boss"

"Yeah, _Saren" _Vasir said contemptuously. "I bet you think I'd betray the Council just like he did huh? Well let me tell you something: the Broker's given me damn good intel over the years. Intel that _saved lives _and kept the Citadel safe. So if the Broker needs a few people to disappear, I'll pay that price without hesitation! And you're no different from me! You work for _Cerberus_! With their biotic death camps for kids, and their assassinations of Alliance admirals…"

"Ah but see that's where there _is_ a difference between us: the difference is I don't work for Cerberus anymore, and I _only _worked with them to stop the Collectors. You just stayed on as the Shadow Broker's own personal hitman. As it is, I think you're boss is about to be seeing some early retirement"

"Fuc—"

A shot rang out and a new bullet hole appeared between Vasir's eyes. Blood came out and she slumped over dead. Shepard turned to see that Miranda had shot her.

"I think she's talked long enough"

Shepard said nothing in response and turned to Liara, who was busy listening to an incredibly deep and groggily sounding voice over an omni-tool: "Eliminate T'soni and retrieve the data. Civilian casualties not a concern"

"Vasir's dead" Shepard said simply.

Liara didn't respond to that piece of information, probably because she already knew it to be true and said instead: "I'm putting the data through to the Normandy's computers. We can be at the Shadow Broker's base in a few hours. He'll know about Vasir's death before long. If he decides to kill Feron…"

"We'll get Feron out of there alive Liara" Shepard said, cutting Liara off. "I promise"

"I know" She said. You're here to help. Just like always" The way Liara said that last bit caught Shepard's attention.

"That's not a good thing?" he asked curiously.

"When we first met on Therum, you saved me from the Geth. You, Tali, and Wrex fought a Krogan battlemaster while I cowered. Now you're doing it again. And I'm still leaning on you for help"

"That's what friends do Liara" Shepard said simply. Liara nodded in response and then said: "I can get us there, based on Sekat's data. The Normandy's stealth drive will keep them from detecting us. The Shadow Broker's agents are still shooting their way through Illium. With luck, they won't notice we've left until its too late"

"That's a little cold. They killed innocent people"

"You know what I mean" Liara said defensively.

"Do I? When I hit the ground back at the trade center, you went after Vasir without a backward look"

"A little fall wasn't going to kill you." Liara said simply. "I had to stay on Vasir. I had to stay rational, make the call. Like I did with Sekat"

"That's Vasir's fault, not yours"

"Sekat had no idea what the stakes where" Liara said sadly as she looked out at the sunrise. "I put him in harm's way to get the data I needed. I got him killed. And I'd do it again. But from here on out things will be simple. Get in, get Feron, get out…and kill anyone who tries to stop us"

"That's it?" Shepard shrugged. "Sounds like a plan"

As Liara walked on, Shepard could see Miranda watching them with her arms folded and an un-approving look on her face. Curious, Shepard walked over to her.

"What's wrong?"

"I've been noticing how you interact with T'soni and I have to ask: where you…close once?"

Shepard shook his head. "Not really no. I recruited her late in my hunt for Saren, I got to know her just well enough to call her a friend, and that's it. But we never came close to getting involved romantically if that's what you're asking. Miranda don't you think I wouldn't have told you if I had been in a romance with her? Or anyone else?"

Miranda shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you would have, maybe you wouldn't. I read up on you Shepard, but files only tell so much. I just…I'm sorry Shepard. I am. I just needed to know for sure."

"Miranda, I love you, and that's all there is to it."

Hearing such a declaration had obviously taken Miranda off guard. Of course the fact that he did love her had become obvious enough but for him to out and out say it…she was clearly surprised. Then she looked away, clearly embarrassed and maybe also a little ashamed with herself.

"I'm sorry Shepard. I am. Let's…let's just get back to what we were doing"

Shepard nodded. As it was, Miranda still hadn't told him whatever it was that was on her mind and involved the two of them. He found himself wondering when, or if, she ever would tell him…

**Author's Note: Long chapter, but between the car-chase and the fight with Vasir I suppose it was inevitable. About the latter, I am well aware that many if not all of the fire-fights so far have seemed to be won too easily by Shepard and company, so I tried to make the fight with Vasir long and drawn out to compensate. How did I do?**


	5. Hagalaz

**Author's Note: Holy crap, I forgot to add this chapter. Well, its here now. Good thing the story manages without it, but I think this chapter should be here anyway. So enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Hagalaz

The Normandy finally came upon Hagalaz, its nearby sun bathing the planet with light so intensely that its surface seemed to glow a light orange. The Kodiak shuttle left the Nomandy's hangar with Shepard, Liara, Miranda, and Legion all on board and ready to take down the Shadow Broker and whatever he threw at them.

As the Kodiak flew down past the sunward facing half of the planet, the air currents grew fierce as the Kodiak flew through dark gray clouds and a stormy atmosphere. Off in the distance, lightning was flashing, and a large vessel that could only be the Shadow Broker's lay perfectly still.

"And there's our dastardly supervillain's evil lair" Shepard quipped. Miranda rolled her eyes in response.

The Kodiak continued its flight, coming up alongside the Shadow Broker's ship as Liara talked about the planet: "Hagalaz. The oceans boil during the day, then snap-freeze ten minutes after sundown"

"Lovely" Miranda deadpanned. "And the Shadow Broker lives in this?"

"His ship follows the sunset. Completely undetectable in the storm, unless you know where to look"

"How do we get inside?" Shepard asked.

"The shuttle bay is locked down. We'll need to land on the ship and hunt for a hatch, but we can't stay outside for long: there's a constant lighting storm where the hot and cold air collide"

"A death world…" Shepard mused.

Finally, the Kodiak came up to the side of the Shadow Broker's ship and opened its hatch. Miranda and Liara put on breather masks while Shepard made sure his Death Mask was sealed. Being a Geth, Legion would be unaffected by the atmosphere.

The four loaded their weapons and then leaped onto the vessel as the Kodiak pulled back and out of sight.

"Its hard to pinpoint in this lightning" Liara said, "…but I'm picking up signals from a communications array near the back of the ship. There's nothing below but maintenance equipment. We have to find an entrance near the back shielding"

Acknowledging, Shepard moved forward first, going down a ramp and ending up on the left-most edge of the ship. Shepard pushed forward and silently hoped that he wouldn't go plummeting off the edge. He didn't get far when maintenance drones suddenly popped out to engage. Not knowing why they were choosing to attack him but not also particularly caring, Shepard drew his hand-cannon and destroyed them.

"They must think we're debris from the storm…" Liara mused.

Continuing a ways before taking a ramp back up to the raised center of the ship, Shepard continued to advance, until coming to a pair of capacitors that seemed to be discharging blasts of electricity.

_Terrific _Shepard thought. And then, to make things more interesting, a small squad of Shadow Broker agents showed up and immediately began shooting at Shepard and company. Thinking quickly, Shepard shot at the capacitors, which exploded upon being shot, but not before letting out a massive electrical surge that killed the Shadow Broker agents.

Continuing past the destroyed capacitors, and steeling himself against the relentless storm winds, Shepard turned around and descended another ramp so he was back on the left-most side of the ship. LOKI mechs where there to shoot at him but a quick usage of Overload from Miranda and they were reduced to a pile of nuts and bolts. Continuing forward, Shepard and crew came upon more capacitors and Shadow Broker agents. Shepard repeated the strategy that had served him well the last time, and once again, the Shadow Broker agents were fatally electrocuted save two who went down in short order.

Moving forward just a little bit, the group came to a rod control. Shepard activated it, lowering one of the lightning rods adorning the Shadow Broker's ship. A mess of Shadow Broker agents, engineers, and vanguards rushed in to deal with him and his team, prompting Shepard to duck into the trench left behind by the moved lightning rod. Shepard scanned around hoping to find another capacitor to set off, and eventually found it. Rather then shoot at it immediately, Shepard waited until a fair number of Shadow Broker agents were nearby before destroying it with a well-placed shot.

More LOKI mechs came out from the left-most side of the ship, shooting at Shepard and company on sight.

"Please reconsider your aggressive attitude" The lead LOKI mech said plainly whilst continuing to shoot at Shepard. It received a blown off head as its answer.

Once all the LOKI mechs were gone, Shepard descended down the left-most side yet again, this time going down lower and lower until he was at the very edge. Going down even more, Shepard could hear Liara say exactly what he was thinking:

"Looking down was clearly a mistake"

As they kept moving down, more Shadow Broker agents jumped down to meet them, assisted by more LOKI mechs. Unleashing his Revenant on them, Shepard cut down what enemies he could before going behind cover. One LOKI mech continued to fire at his position and got blown to pieces by Miranda's Overload for its troubles. As Legion used a combat drone to keep the remaining Agents busy, Liara and Miranda used pistol-fire to finish them off. Moving forward a little more up a series of ramps, Shepard turned to the right and opened a door into the ship's interior.

The interior in question was massive and spacious, and seemed to Shepard more like the garage on a cruiser then anything else, albeit one with more lightning rods attached to large slanting black pillars. As they entered, Liara commented in amazement: "This ship is incredible. It must have taken decades to build in secret"

"Well Vasir had said that the Shadow Broker's been in power for that long" Shepard replied, and then adding: "I wonder what happened to the contractors"

"I think we can guess"

Shepard moved further a bit and accessed some motion dampeners lining the wall. As he did, Liara continued: "Navigating a storm is brutal. If the ship's engines stop for even a moment…" Liara trailed off before finishing simply: "…at least the Shadow Broker would go down with us"

"That's comforting" Shepard deadpanned as he found power cells with which to re-power his Collector particle beam. Looking around, he saw a ramp leading up to another door. Taking it, Shepard found himself outside again, probably on the opposite end of the ship. As they continued to advance, Shepard took a good look out at the never-ending mass of clouds of a sickly light brown color, as if the whole planet had been polluted past the point of habitation. Maybe it had, for all Shepard knew.

_Just like sunny Tuchunka _Shepard mused.

Going up the winding series of ramps again, Shepard saw an Asari-led group of agents waiting for him. They immediately unleashed a merciless torrent of assault rifle fire that dispelled his shields. Cursing, Shepard fell back and shot at the nearby capacitor, again, killing all of the enemies present save the Asari vanguard, who went down in short order with two hand-cannons, a Revenant, and a Vindicator all shooting at her simultaneously.

More agents were off in the distance, and with no more capacitors to overload and his shields still recharging, Shepard instead opted to snipe at them from a distance with his Viper as Legion did the same with its Widow. Going further down the ramps, they encountered more agents who put up only meager resistance before meeting the same fate as their fellows. LOKI mechs came up from the side to provide support fire, forcing Shepard and company behind cover as their pistol shots flew through the air. But of course, LOKI mechs were never known for their durability. A few sniper shots from Legion and Shepard and biotics from Liara and Miranda made short work of them.

"Too bad they weren't a hundred yards away" Shepard quipped to Miranda. "I've yet to see you make good on that claim you made back at the Cerberus station"

"Ha. Ha." Miranda deadpanned but nevertheless smiled in response.

The group moved back up to the center of the ship and encountered more heavy resistance from vanguard-led agents, having to take cover once again as rockets fired from heavies flew through the air. Liara used pull to send the heavies into the air while Shepard and Legion focused fire on the Vanguards. One Vanguard unexpectedly showed some intelligence and used the "zoom and blast" tactic on Shepard, disrupting his shields instantly and causing some of the good commander's blood to go flying out. Shepard responded by switching to his Scimitar and gunning her down before she could get away.

Another agent hurled a flash grenade, temporarily blinding Shepard. He sought cover, waiting for both his vision to clear and his shields to recharge. One agent got bold and tried to rush his position and paid for his recklessness with a shotgun blast to the chest. Meanwhile, Liara shot down the last heavy, and the final Vanguard went down to a sniper shot from Legion.

Moving forward, Shepard came upon some panel controls and went up to access them. Upon activating them, Shepard took the new route they had made down and continued along the catwalks, shooting what Shadow Broker agents there were to stand in his way. After taking out an engineer and vanguard-led squad, Shepard activated another lightning rod to open up another pathway. As he advanced down it, Shepard observed: "Not even a guard rail. I bet the Broker's agents love patrolling the hull."

"At least the view is nice" Liara replied simply. Continuing up aways, Liara pointed at a nearby hatch: "That hatch leads directly to the communication signals" Liara attempted to access it but found that it was locked.

"Don't worry, I've got a bypass shut program that can crack it"

"How long will it take?" Shepard asked as Liara got to work.

"I don't know Shepard" Liara said exasperated. "I've never broken into the Shadow Broker's base before…well, not this one anyway"

As more Shadow Broker agents ran in to intercept them, Shepard shouted to Liara: "Are you sure that shut will work?"

"Its illegal, even on Illium. It didn't come with a warranty"

"But you tested it right?"

"Here come more of them!" Liara shouted as Shadow Broker vanguards entered the scene.

"Tell me you tested it!"

"No time to talk!" Liara responded. Shepard sighed. _Figures. _

As Miranda, Liara, and Legion handled most of the agents shooting at them in the vicinity, Shepard drew his Viper and picked off the heavies raining rockets down on them in the distance, also making sure to shoot and overload every single nearby capacitor in the hopes that the electrical charges would thin the resistance a little and _not _electrocute his allies to death.

"Liara!" Shepard shouted.

"I'm sure it won't be much longer…" Liara said hesitantly. Shepard rolled his eyes.

"Remember the old days when you could just slap omni-gel on everything?"

"That security upgrade made a lot of people unhappy…" Liara mumbled before shouting: "Look out! More on the way!"

Indeed, several more agents and engineers came swarming in. Shepard gunned down one of the engineers while Liara used her biotics to send another spiraling into the air and right off the side of the ship. Legion shot down a vanguard and another agent while Miranda used her biotics and SMG fire to keep the rest at bay.

"Rocket drones, front of the ship!"

At this, Miranda changed her attention to the drones, using Overload to either severely weaken or outright destroy them while Shepard and Liara continued to shoot at the Shadow Broker agents. As the last agent fell, Liara remarked: "These attacks are unorganized. They'd be more effective if they all attacked at once"

"Please don't give the mercs ideas" Shepard said exasperated.

As Shepard overloaded the capacitors again, their electrical blasts arcing this way and that and killing the vanguards and agents unfortunate enough to be in their path, Shepard remarked: "Looks like that shut's a piece of junk"

"It will work just give it more time!" Liara snapped back.

Another flash grenade went off, blinding Shepard and leaving him an easy shot for the nearby agents. Falling back behind cover as the shots continued to come his way, Shepard re-loaded his Revenant and waited for his vision to clear. As he did, he could hear Legion continue to fire off its Widow, cutting down a Shadow Broker thug with every shot.

"The next wave looks like a big one!" Liara said as Shepard finally started to regain his vision.

"You just _had _to give them tactical advice"

"But now there will be fewer left to deal with inside" Liara suggested, trying to give her mistake a silver lining.

"Keep dreaming T'soni" Shepard replied as he shot down another vanguard. More rocket drones came in, dumping their payload down on Shepard and company's position and forcing him out of his cover before Miranda's overload took them out of the equation. Shadow Broker agents, vanguards, and heavies continued to fire at them from all sides. Shepard overloaded the nearby capacitors again and Liara and Miranda threw in biotic warps for good measure. Between it all the resistance was thinned a little, but as the rocket that missed Shepard's head by mere inches attested, the fire-fight wasn't over.

Gunning down the heavy who had shot at him, Shepard kept some more agents at bay with suppressive fire, catching out of the corner of his eye the sight of a Shadow Broker soldier being hurled through the air and over the edge of the ship by Miranda's biotics. Then his ears picked up a faint unlocking sound amidst the carnage and gun-fire.

"There!" Liara shouted. "The hatch is open!"

Wasting no time, Shepard ran forward and accessed the hatch, relief washing over him as it unlocked. Rushing inside first, as shots missed him by inches, Shepard provided covering fire for Legion, Liara, and Miranda as they all rushed inside. Making their way in, Shepard and company were immediately confronted by a Salarian-led group of Shadow Broker goons, one of whom was packing a rocket launcher.

"More of them?" Liara exclaimed exasperated. "How many guards does the Shadow Broker have?"

"Our scanners detect approximately 86 living sentients on board this vessel Information Broker T'soni" Legion responded, not understanding that the question was rhetorical. Nevertheless, Shepard couldn't resist the urge to rub it in.

"I told you" he said simply.

As they continued to cut down the guards and engineers, the Shadow Broker's dark and barely intelligible voice rang out: "Hold your positions no matter the cost!"

Taking cover from the torrent of rockets being fired in his direction, Shepard used his Viper to kill the heavies while his allies took care of the rest. Seeing that the team of four wasn't being slowed down in the least by the offensive, two agents panicked and fled, leaving behind only one engineer who didn't last long.

As Shepard and company raced through the hallways, shooting down more Shadow Broker agents as they went, Liara said: "I've downloaded the ship's layout. We're headed toward the prison block…and Feron"

Going up another flight of stairs, Shepard saw a pair of vanguards standing guard on opposite ends of the door. Seeing that they hadn't noticed him yet, Shepard drew his Viper and aimed for the head of the one closest to him.

"No time for niceties"

And with this, Shepard opened fire with his Viper, keeping up the pressure on the vanguard until she went down. Legion sniped at the other one and her barriers were dispelled by just one shot from Legion's powerful Widow, a few shots from Miranda's Tempest then finishing her off.

The door then opened, and some agents came in. Cutting them down with head and chest shots from his Viper, Shepard entered the next room and came upon a locked door that he easily hacked his way through. Upon opening it, Shepard and his companions were greeted to the sight of Feron in an adjacent room, unconscious and strapped to some kind of torture table.

"Feron…"

Upon hearing his name, Feron opened his eyes and turned his head slightly, seeing his old friend and her allies.

"Liara?"

"Hold on!" Liara said, running forward. "We're getting you out of here!"

Liara ran up to the console and attempted to access it. Suddenly, Feron screamed in agony as electricity ran through his body for a brief moment before disappearing.

"What the hell is the Broker trying to do to you?" Shepard asked Feron.

"The equipment is sensitive to tampering" Feron replied. "This chair plugs into the Broker's info network. You have to shut off the power. Pull me out now, and my brain cooks"

"Do you know where we can cut the power?" Liara asked him.

"It won't be easy. You'll have to go to central operations"

Shepard nodded. Not surprising that he'd have a few more fights on his hands before all was said and done. But now that he was in the proverbial lion's den, he wanted to know just a little bit more about the lion in question.

"So do you know anything about the Broker?"

"Yeah. He did this to me" Feron answered simply.

"I was sort of hoping you'd know what he is"

Feron shook his head. "I never got a good look but he's big. The guards are terrified of him"

"A Krogan?" Liara asked.

"I don't know" Feron said. "But not everyone who visits his office comes back out"

"Krogan are prone to violent impulses, even towards allies" Miranda said. "Although I doubt that a Krogan would ever be smart, subtle, or patient enough to run the galaxy's largest information network…"

Feron shrugged. "Like I said I don't know. I just want to get out of here before they decide to torture me again"

"Don't worry" Shepard reassured him. "Easy or not, we're all getting out of here alive"

"Good" Feron replied simply. His gaze turned for a moment to Legion, who was just standing there, and then back to Shepard.

"Don't ask" Shepard said simply.

Feron got the message and returned to the task at hand. "Central operations is down the hall. You know the Shadow Broker's waiting for you right?"

"I'm counting on it" Shepard replied

"We'll be back for you Feron" Liara assured him.

"I'll try not to go anywhere' Feron snarked in response.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can have Legion here look after you in case any more of the Shadow Broker's goons come to torture you some more"

Feron again eyed Legion suspiciously before shrugging. "What the heck. At least if that Geth shoots me it'll be quick and painless…I hope"

"We will stand guard over Feron and prevent hostiles from inflicting physical harm to his person" Legion said.

"Good. Miranda, Liara, let's move out"

As Shepard gave this order, the Shadow Broker's voice came on over the inter-com with orders of his own: "I want all teams to outpost C now!"

A Vanguard and some agents rushed in and received a torrent of bullets as a greeting. When the dust settled, Shepard, Liara, and Miranda moved forward, going up some stairs. As they did, they could hear some comm. chatter between a couple of Shadow Broker agents: "Outposts A through F are down!"

Shepard came out from hiding with his Revenant raised at the agent.

"All right. Hands up, comm. and guns down on the ground. Now"

"Ah shit…" the Shadow Broker agent mumbled.

"Hello? Solomon! What's going on down there?"

Shepard calmly walked forward and put the barrel of his Revenant to the agent's head. He then said, very calmly: "I don't want your friends coming down this way. Understand?"

The Shadow Broker agent nodded. Meanwhile, the other agent on the comm. was getting impatient.

"Hello? Hello? Shit. Must have been taken out. Send a group down there now!"

"Uh, that…won't be necessary" the Shadow Broker agent said hurriedly. Everything's under control. Comm. just bugged out for a moment there"

"Hmph. Like hell it did. You and I are going to have a little _chat_ later about dozing off on the job."

And with that the comm. went silent.

"Assuming you don't get shot first…" the Shadow Broker agent mumbled. He faced Shepard, who still had his Revenant aimed at his head.

"So…can I go or are you going to kill me?"

"Get out of here. Can't spend your bosses' blood money if you're dead after all."

"Damn right" the agent agreed. "I'm outta here" And with that he walked off.

Moving forward past him, Shepard opened the door the last agent had had his back to and then went down the hallway to another door. Opening it, he, Liara, and Miranda found themselves face to face with the Shadow Broker.

"Commander Shepard. Doctor Liara T'soni. I've been expecting you"


	6. Face Off with the Shadow Broker

Chapter 5: Face-Off with the Shadow Broker

So this was the Shadow Broker. One of the most infamous beings in the entire known galaxy. He was definitely big, but from what Shepard could make out regarding his physical appearance, he was definitely not a Krogan. He was…something else. What exactly, Shepard couldn't say, but his head looked vaguely similar to certain sea-life from Earth.

The Shadow Broker spoke up again, asking a simple but accurate question: "Here for the Drell?"

Before Shepard could even consider answering, the Shadow Broker continued: "Reckless, even for you commander"

"That bombing on Illium wasn't exactly subtle" Shepard retorted

"Extreme, but necessary"

_Spoken like a man after the Illusive Man's own black heart _Shepard thought darkly.

"No it wasn't!" Liara roared, showing more anger then Shepard had ever seen her show before. "Neither was caging Feron for two years!"

"Dr. T'soni, it was your interference that caused all this. Feron betrayed me when he handed you Shepard's body. The Drell is simply paying the price. That two years of torture has not broken him or even taken away his tongue is somewhat amazing"

The Shadow Broker said it all with the same dark monotone, a voice that couldn't be natural, suggesting that he was still artificially masking it. A secret keeper to the bitter end it would seem.

"Someone was bound to come after you for working with the Collectors" Shepard pointed out.

"It was a mutually beneficial partnership" the Shadow Broker said simply. "Not unlike your own temporary alliance with Cerberus to destroy the Collectors"

Shepard groaned inwardly. He had grown sick and tired of being constantly reminded of, and vilified for, his temporary partnership with Cerberus. He hadn't exactly enjoyed it himself, but it was necessary to stop the greater threat, and he hadn't had to commit any atrocities along the way, so as far as he was concerned, he could live with it. It was just too bad that no one else seemed able to.

"As it is, I am pleased to say that though the Collectors have been destroyed, the Normandy's IFF will allow me to salvage the remains of the Collector's base"

Shepard shook his head. The Shadow Broker had just proven himself to be as hopelessly deluded and supremely arrogant as many of Shepard's other foes, from Saren Arterius all the way up to the Illusive Man.

"All I know is that it will be pretty hard to run a ship this size when most of your crew's dead" Shepard retorted

"They're replaceable" the Shadow Broker said simply. "As it is I must remember to have the two agents you spared hunted down and killed after I am done with you. I do not tolerate desertion. Now enough talk. My operations are far too crucial to be compromised by a _traitor_" The Shadow Broker directed that last part to Liara, who responded acidly: "You're quite confident for someone with nowhere left to hide"

If the Shadow Broker was at all affected by Liara's defiance one way or the other, he didn't show it. Instead, he turned to face Miranda and Shepard and said: "You travel with fascinating companions doctor. At least you brought me both Shepard and Ms. Lawson T'soni. Their deaths will cripple Cerberus. I also thank you for bringing that Geth to me as well. Cerberus undervalued its selling price"

"You're not putting a hand on anyone" Liara growled.

"It is useless to challenge me asari. I know your every secret while you fumble in the dark"

"Is that right?" Liara asked sarcastically before then saying matter-of-factly: "You're a yahg. A pre-spaceflight species quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council's first contact teams."

The Yahg. Shepard had heard about them before. He mentally kicked himself for not realizing from the get-go that that was what the Shadow Broker was. From what he knew of the Yahg, they were like the Krogan, but with less advanced technology and seemingly no good members or any redeeming qualities whatsoever. So in effect, worse.

In any event, Liara's revealing this information had clearly caught the Shadow Broker's attention. Liara continued: "This base is older then your planet's discovery, which probably means you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, then took over. I'm guessing you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave…or a pet. How am I doing?"

Much like how Shepard previously sending Vasir into a rage via taunting might not have been the best idea in hindsight, Liara's exposing the Shadow Broker's secrets and "humble" beginnings proved to have some dire consequences.

The Shadow Broker got up out of his chair, where his full height became apparent. He easily dwarfed Grunt in size. Then, without warning, he smashed his table in two and hurled one of the halves.

Instinct taking over, Shepard rushed forward and pushed Miranda out of the way, tackling her to the ground and falling down with her as the table half sailed over their heads far too close for comfort before smashing to pieces. Shepard urged Miranda to get up as a few feet away Liara struggled to do the same.

The Shadow Broker stepped forward and unleashed a piercing roar of blind fury that gave further credence to the idea that at heart the Yahg were just even bigger and nastier Krogan, and also managed to completely destroy any notions one would have that the Shadow Broker was even remotely civil.

The Shadow Broker drew a Revenant machine gun in one hand. Shepard immediately rushed for cover alongside Miranda as the Shadow Broker unleashed a merciless torrent of fire from his Revenant at them. By now Liara had gotten up fully and was desperately attempting to drain his shields of their power. She was successful, and the second his energy shields fell, Shepard popped out from behind cover and unleashed the full power of his own Revenant, tearing apart the Shadow Broker's armor barrier in seconds, two bullets managing to pierce the behemoth's flesh.

Now looking even more enraged then before, the Shadow Broker charged forward in a complete blood-lust and for a moment Shepard thought that he was going to be in for something ugly. But then, the Broker planted his feet into the ground and conjured up a personal field reminiscent of a biotic barrier but looking almost like white balls and an invisible field rather then a blue or indigo-colored glow. But the effect seemed to be the same. Shepard could see Liara's shots bounce off harmlessly.

"The shield's kinetically sensitive. Energy and projectiles are bouncing off!"

Shepard shouldered his gun and prepared his fists for some punching. "Then we do this the hard way"

In an act of pure audacity but also one that seemed wholly necessary, Shepard ran up and kneed the Shadow Broker, then punched him across his jaw as he reeled upwards from the knee attack. The Shadow Broker roared in pain, but Shepard punched him backwards before he could retaliate. Ignoring the tingling pain in his hand that came from punching such a creature, Shepard ran at the Broker again, but this time his enemy was ready for him.

As Shepard came at him, the Shadow Broker conjured up some kind of orange energy shield and used it to knock Shepard into the air. Liara and Miranda raced to Shepard's side and the Shadow Broker held his orange energy shield at the ready, the look on his face almost looking to Shepard like he was daring them to take their best shot.

Shepard decided to take him up on his offer, pouring his Revenant's ammunition into the Shadow Broker, whose orange energy shield deflected the projectiles with ease.

_An omni-shield perhaps?_ Shepard thought, desperately trying to keep his cool in the face of a massive, enraged, alien whose species he had never fought before who had now just gained a means of shrugging off whatever he could throw at him.

"How come I don't have one of those?" Shepard asked, trying to ease some of the tension.

"This is not the time for jokes!" Miranda snapped, her Tesmpest's spray of bullets having a similar level of success, or lack thereof, at piercing the Broker's "omni-shield".

"Duly noted" Shepard deadpanned before giving out a new order: "Miranda, Liara, Overload on that omni-shield, or whatever the hell it is, NOW!"

Miranda and Liara nodded in acknowledgment and put their biotics to good use on the shield. To Shepard's happiness and relief, the omni-shield temporarily disappeared, and Shepard seized on the opportunity to hit the Shadow Broker with as many bullets as he could squeeze off. The torrent of bullets shredded through the Shadow Broker's defenses, several bullets also managing to ruin his suit, which elicited another howl of fury from him. He then kneeled and re-conjured his personal energy field. Knowing what to do, Shepard charged him and whacked him with the butt-end of his Revenant. The Shadow Broker rolled with the hit and held his Omni-Shield at the ready. Shepard charged forward, crashing right into the orange barrier with the full force of his body. The Shadow Broker tried to shake him off but amazingly, Shepard held his ground.

So began a fierce struggle between the two that the Shadow Broker ultimately won, knocking Shepard into the air and right into Liara. Drawing his pistol quickly, Shepard fired blindly, and managed to shoot the Shadow Broker in one of his eight eyes. The Broker howled in rage in response as he staggered back from the pain. As he did, Shepard and Liara could both see that the glowing bluish-white dome on the ceiling was beginning to emit a fair bit of electricity, sputtering and letting lightning loose in various directions.

Liara turned to Shepard: "If you can get him to bring up that shield again, I've got an idea"

Shepard nodded and got back to his feet, re-drawing his Revenant. He opened fire on the Broker, unloading more bullets into both the shield and its wielder. Not content to stand around and be shot at, the Shadow Broker charged forward, shield in front, no doubt intending to ram into Shepard with the full force of both it and his body. Moving out of the way, Shepard continued firing, only for the Shadow Broker to turn around and knock him into the air with another strike from his omni-shield.

Shepard went slamming right into the wall, and by the time he got back on his feet, the Shadow Broker struck him with his shield again, this time knocking his Death Mask off and bringing Shepard to the ground.

Marching forward like an unstoppable force of nature, the Shadow Broker stepped on Shepard's Death Mask and crushed it with nothing short of impunity.

"Fuck. I liked that helmet…" Shepard mumbled.

Forcing himself up, Shepard drew his Collector Particle Beam and let loose with it before the Shadow Broker could react. The thin but intense beam of colorless energy struck at the Shadow Broker's omni-shield with unrelenting force, causing the Shadow Broker to stagger back as he continued to hold his shield up. Then the omni-shield finally dispelled completely under the assault.

"**NOOO**!" The Shadow Broker roared. Shepard tossed his now juice-less weapon to the ground and charged the Shadow Broker again, firing off shot after shot from his Scimitar, each blast further tearing up the Shadow Broker's suit and drawing blood as he kept forcing him back.

Finally though, the Shadow Broker grabbed the Scimitar and hoisted Shepard aloft. One close-up look of the Shadow Broker's ugly face, complete with one missing eye and an utterly enraged expression told Shepard everything he needed to know.

_This is going to hurt_

Not planning to give the Shadow Broker the chance to punch his stomach right out from under him, Shepard let go of the Scimitar and rolled to one side as he landed on the ground so the Shadow Broker couldn't kick him or step on him. The Shadow Broker tossed Shepard's Scimitar to the side and resumed shooting at Shepard with his Revenant. Shepard re-drew his and replied in kind. Seemingly not slowing down in spite of being shot repeatedly by a Revenant machine gun, as well as multiple blasts from a Scimitar, the Broker advanced unrelentingly towards Shepard. Before he could move out of the way, the Shadow Broker knocked Shepard's Revenant out of his hands and kicked him back. Rolling out of the way of the Shadow Broker's large feet, Shepard punched him back, a blow that no doubt left Shepard's hand badly bruised but also seemed to have knocked the wind out of the Broker, who fell to his knees.

Wasting no time, Shepard punched the Shadow Broker again. Shepard attempted to land another punch but the Shadow Broker moved his head out of the way and knocked Shepard into the air with a swing of his arm. As Shepard collapsed onto the cold hard floor he could taste some blood in his mouth. The Shadow Broker grabbed Shepard's leg and swung him overhead, slamming him into the floor again on the other side. Shepard drew his pistol and shot out another one of the Shadow Broker's eyes, enraging him further but also forcing him to let go. Shepard scrambled to his feet as the Shadow Broker charged him again. Shepard tried to move out of the way but the Broker grabbed him and hurled him onto the ground again. Shepard tried to force himself back up as the Shadow Broker lumbered towards him.

"Is that all?" The Shadow Broker bellowed. It wasn't. Shepard still had a good bit of fight left in him, but the Broker didn't need to know that.

The Shadow Broker closed in on him. Miranda began unloading her Tempest's entire clip into the Shadow Broker.

"Stay away from him!" Miranda shouted at him, a display completely uncharacteristic of the former Cerberus Lieutenant. But then again, Shepard's relationship with her was hardly par for the course.

"IS THAT ALL?" the Shadow Broker repeated, this time louder then before and something in his voice suggesting to Shepard that he was reveling in his apparent victory over him. He came in even closer. And right into Shepard's trap.

"IS THAT A—"

Shepard spun around unexpectedly, conjured up his omni-blade, and with one slash across the Shadow Broker's throat cut him off. For a moment the Shadow Broker just stood there, clutching his throat as blood began to seep out of it. Shepard punched him again, once more knocking him to the ground. The Shadow Broker let out a fierce growl in response and with one hand still clutching his bleeding neck charged Shepard like a Krogan berserker.

But Shepard was ready for him.

He ran forward to meet the Shadow Broker's charge but then slid under his arm swing at the last moment. As he did he shouted out: "Liara now!"

Then, before the Shadow Broker could even realize what was happening, Liara and Miranda destroyed the dome on the ceiling with their biotics, dumping its contents on to the Shadow Broker. The Shadow Broker attempted to protect himself with his barrier but the liquid caused the barrier to malfunction, and by the time the Shadow Broker caught on to this it was too late. He glared darkly at Liara and unleashed one last roar before his shield suffered an extreme overload and his whole body was consumed by a bright white light.

The ensuing explosion was nothing short of spectacular. It was as if a biotic bomb had gone off, a torrent of blue and black energy surging outward and knocking Shepard, Miranda, and Liara flat on their backs.

Liara was the first one up and helped Shepard to his feet who then did the same for Miranda. Shepard turned to Liara: "Come on. Feron should be free now"

But before anyone could do anything, a voice came on on the nearby set of terminals: "Shadow Broker, this is operative Murat. We had a momentary connection failure. Can you confirm status?"

Another voice rang out, this one female: "Operative Shora requesting update. Are we still online?"

"Oh bloody hell…" Miranda muttered.

Another voice came on: "Shadow Broker, I've lost our feed. We are online and awaiting your instructions"

Shepard could see Liara just standing there, eyes jumping from screen to screen as she tried to absorb everything. For a minute, Shepard was afraid she would be overwhelmed, but then she calmly walked forward and accessed the Shadow Broker's terminals.

Assuming the Shadow Broker's deep voice, Liara addressed the various agents: "This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control. We experienced a power fluctuation while upgrading hardware. It disrupted communications momentarily."

Suddenly, the doors to the room opened and Feron came running in, pistol drawn, with Legion right behind him. He was all set to shoot when he saw that Liara and Shepard were alive and well.

Liara finished her little cover-story: "However, we are now back online. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day. Shadow Broker out."

"Goddess of oceans…" Feron said dumbstruck. "Its you…how?"

"Well…" Liara said. "…everyone who's ever seen him in person is dead, so…"

Feron finished her sentence for her, clearly completely floored by the revelation: "…you're the new Shadow Broker"

"Is taking over as the Shadow Broker really a good idea?" Shepard asked concerned.

"It was either that or lose everything. His contacts, his ships, his trading sources. Those will really help us. With the Shadow Broker's information network I can give you…I can…" Liara trailed off, seemingly unsure of how to finish. Feron tried desperately to break the tension, or at the least, remove himself from it.

"I'll, uh…I'll check the power systems…"

And with that, Feron left, Miranda and Legion deciding to leave as well, and their timing was perfect. No sooner did they all exit then Liara began to break down, tears streaming down her face as she said softly: "Its over. It's finally…for two years…"

Shepard stepped in at that moment and gave his old friend a hug of reassurance. "It's all right Liara"

"I spent two years mourning you and Feron. And now I've got you both back. I…" Liara trailed off before wiping away the tears on her face and recomposing herself. "Let's see what we've got"

Liara walked over to the terminal and examined it. "No safeguards, no restrictions. Its like he never anticipated anyone but himself being here…and now its all ours"

Shepard privately confessed to liking the sound of that. Knowledge was power, as the saying went, not that Shepard planned on becoming like the Shadow Broker or the Illusive Man. But a little additional knowledge would not necessarily be unwelcome.

"What kind of information are we talking about?"

"I'm not sure" Liara responded. "I'll need to go through his files. Come back later, and I'll try to have something useful for you"

Shepard nodded. He could wait. But then he wondered…

"Do you think that the Shadow Broker has files on me and my team?"

Liara nodded. "Oh I'm sure of it. Those I can probably get for you right now"

Liara set to work on the terminal for a moment before turning around and saying: "I dug up the Shadow Broker's dossiers on you and your crew, along with a few others you should be interested in. They'll be in a terminal in a nearby room"

Shepard nodded.

"All I wanted was to rescue Feron…" Liara said with a sigh. Then she added: "But…is it wrong that part of me wants this? With the Shadow Broker's network, I can help you. Maybe I can turn this operation into something better"

"Don't be a stranger this time." Shepard warned. "And please don't make me think that I traded one mobster for another"

Liara nodded. "Of course Shepard. I won't betray your trust in me. Come by sometime…when you have a chance…the doors are always open"

Shepard nodded in response and then turned and left. As he did though, Liara called out to him: "And Shepard…"

Shepard stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her.

"Yes?"

"I just want to know…what are you fighting for?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer that question. "Excuse me?"

"What are you fighting for besides the lives of the galaxy Shepard?" Liara pressed. "This whole adventure, I've been fighting for Feron, and before that, I was fighting for you. So tell me what you want. What are _you_ fighting for? The future of humanity? As evidenced by the perfect miss Lawson?"

Shepard found himself just a little taken aback by how much Liara knew. He wasn't entirely sure that he liked it either, but figured that if anyone had to know, then an old friend might as well be the one.

Deciding not to beat around the bush or feign confusion or denial, Shepard answered truthfully: "She's got her issues…but she trusts me. And I care about her"

"She was so cold when I first met her…" Liara mused, the revelation that she knew Miranda catching Shepard's attention and piquing his curiosity somewhat.

"…Completely focused on her duty"

Shepard chuckled humorlessly. "Miranda's changed a _bit_, but I don't know that she's lightened up _that _much."

"She has" Liara said simply before adding, with more emotion: "Believe me, you have no idea how much you've changed her. I hope the two of you find happiness together"

Shepard nodded. Liara was right when he thought about it. He _had _changed her, and it was more than just getting her to leave Cerberus. He had melted the thick layer of ice she had encased herself in, broken through the shell of cynicism, professionalism, and distrust that she showed to everyone else. He had helped turn her into a warmer, more pleasant person, at least to him.

"You and me both" he finally said in response, before adding: "Thanks Liara."

And with that, Shepard left the Shadow Broker's office. As he did, he found himself getting the growing suspicion that Liara had grown attracted to him, or had been attracted to him once. He could almost see it in her eyes. Her smile too. And yet if true she hadn't confronted him about it. Either because she felt that it couldn't work now given her current position, knowledge of his relationship with Miranda, or maybe even an attraction to Feron, Shepard didn't know.

He exited and saw Miranda and Legion waiting for him. Miranda had her arms crossed and looked at him with an inquisitive expression.

"Well?"

"Almost done. I just want to see what the Shadow Broker had on us and then we'll go"

Upon hearing this, Miranda's expression changed immediately, becoming what looked to Shepard's eyes as a fear attempting to be masked.

"Do you mean files on us?"

Shepard nodded. "Yes, I do. It shouldn't take too long. I'll view the files, Legion here can…download copies of them, and then we'll be going"

"Acknowledged. We can download Shadow Broker file copies onto our matrix, and will also be able to re-upload them onto the Normandy's computers.

Shepard nodded. "That's what I was counting on"

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "You want to take the Shadow Broker's files on us? Isn't Liara T'soni the new Shadow Broker?"

"Yes, and I do trust her, but they _are_ files on us. If anyone has a right to view them, shouldn't it be us?"

Miranda's expression was not one Shepard expected out of her, least of all in regards to the question he posed. She looked nervous almost, unsure also. It was as if there was some kind of inner dilemma tearing her apart from the inside-out, and she was doing her damndest to suppress it.

"I…I suppose that if you think they will be of an asset to us commander then I see no good reason why we shouldn't…"

"Well then what's wrong? Afraid I might find out something about you won't like?"

Miranda sighed deeply. "Something like that."

"This is about this secret of yours that you haven't been able to tell me isn't it"

Miranda's eyes fell to the floor but she nevertheless answered Shepard's question: "Yes, it is. And I suppose now there's no use putting it off any longer. Shepard, I…" Miranda trailed off. For a moment Shepard thought that he could see tears forming in her eyes before she blinked them back.

"Maybe I should just show you what the file says."


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

Shepard and Miranda went into the room Liara had designated as the location of the Shadow Broker's dossiers on Shepard and his team. Shepard opened it up and came to Miranda's. He turned to her:

"Are you sure you want me to look at this? I don't want to-"

Miranda nodded and cut Shepard off: "I'm sure Shepard. Honestly your probably the _only_ person I would ever want to read what's on there"

"And if this secret of yours isn't there?"

"It is. I'm sure of it. And if its not…" she shrugged. "Then I'll just tell you myself."

Shepard nodded and looked at the file…

_Miranda Lawson._

_Cerberus Officer. Efficient, ruthless, obsessed with human dominance. Possible recruitment candidate after Illusive Man's assassination and destruction of Cerberus_

Shepard nodded to everything he read. All of it accurate up until very recently. Miranda was still efficient, that was for sure, and still believed that humans deserved a solid place in the galaxy instead of just kowtowing to the Council, but as Liara had just pointed out to him, she had grown warmer and friendlier since their first meetings, at least to him, no longer the cold-blooded human supremacist and Cerberus loyalist she had been. Apparently this file was somewhat outdated.

_Shadow Broker must have been getting sloppy in his old age _Shepard joked to himself before continuing reading. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Miranda doing her best to remain calm and stoic as normal but he was reasonably good at reading people, especially those close to him, and he could tell that anxiety was setting in, as whatever secret she had been struggling to tell him came closer and closer to being revealed.

The next few things in the file were some Extranet activity followed by Personal Correspondences with iPartner Connections, and Inter-Relay Text Chat. As Shepard read through these, he couldn't help but find Miranda's choice of username amusing. It didn't take Shepard long to see that these where Miranda's attempts at finding a partner. They were painful to read so Shepard skimmed through them, wondering if that was what Miranda had been hesitating to tell him, in which case he would tell her to ease up a little. But rather then jump to conclusions he kept reading.

Finally, after skimming through the iPartner Connections discussions, he next came to a conversation between Miranda and Oriana. Shepard found himself slightly angered that the Shadow Broker would intrude on something so personal, especially when Miranda stated in the message how she had secured it all. Still, he couldn't help but smile at Miranda's interactions with her sister, even if Miranda did come off as more than a little overprotective. Finally, Shepard came to the last file, titled "Medical Correspondence". Curious, Shepard examined it.

_From: Illium Medical Center, Prenatal Care Department _

_RE: TEST RESULTS, PATIENT 12-66AD-1 _

_Miss Lawson, _

_As per your request for privacy, this message will be removed from our database upon confirmation of send integrity. _

_While we cannot firmly attribute the cause of the benign neoplasm to the irregularity in your genetic makeup, we can confirm that the progressive damage renders you unable to conceive a child. _

_About 12 percent of human women ages 18–54 have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant according to data obtained from the Institute of Species Research (ISR). There are many support groups if you wish to discuss your condition and several options available should you wish to consider the adoption of a child. _

_If you require further consultation, please contact our communication officer. _

_Sincerely, _

_Dr. Banner Grenway _

_Department Medical Director _

_Illium Medical Center _

So that's what it was. This was the terrible secret that Miranda had wanted to tell him but had been unable to. Now he could see why, and it also made why she had brought it up the way she did so much more clear: she had tried desperately to tell him that they could not have children together. That if they were to remain together, it would be alone and without kids.

Needless to say, Shepard could see what the source of Miranda's angst was and how she had rightly worried how it would impact their relationship. He also suspected that it was just one more reason why she had developed such a cold exterior before. No woman wanted to be told that she couldn't have children.

Shepard turned to see Miranda looking away in shame, and he could see her struggling to fight back some tears.

"Shepard I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner…"

"Its okay Miranda, I understand…"

"But its not!" Miranda exclaimed, pain in her voice. "I mean you and I…we've become so close, and…"

Shepard could see Miranda's desperate attempts to fight back tears were failing. He had never seen her so emotional and vulnerable before. Every layer of haughtiness, confidence, and superiority, every aspect of her Ice Queen persona had all been peeled away.

Catching herself shedding tears, Miranda angrily wiped them away. "Damn it, why am I doing this? I shouldn't be doing this…"

Shepard didn't know just what this next question would yield, but he asked anyway: "You wanted to become a mother didn't you?"

Miranda sniffed and nodded as more tears escaped her eyes. "Yes…yes I suppose I did"

It made sense. All those attempts at finding a partner…Shepard realized to his mild horror and disgust that Miranda could have very well only been doing that to get herself pregnant. She was that desperate to have a child. And as he thought about it, he understood why: she had always, always had trouble trusting others. He of all people knew this as fact. He had had to earn her trust when they first met, getting nothing but a mostly cold and arrogant persona until he had, and she had also been betrayed by her oldest and dearest friend when she felt she could rely on him. And of course, after all of her grievances with her father, who if he was half the bastard Miranda made him out to be, was not someone Shepard ever wanted to deal with, love was also hard for her.

But children would be different. A child would be the one only person she could love without reserve, regret, or hesitation. No fear of ever being betrayed, no need to worry about ulterior motives or manipulation. Children would be perfect for her. He should have known when he saw from a distance how Miranda looked at her sister's family that she was envious as well as happy for her.

He felt sorry for her. He really, truly did. And as he turned to look at her again, he could see that she had his back to him, her head lowered in shame. He walked over to her and put an arm over her.

"Hey…come on…"

He pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her tightly against his armored chest. She made no attempts at resistance and just rested her head against him, tears flowing freely from her face now. There was no point hiding it anymore. No point hiding the angst and the heartbreak behind a façade of arrogance and cold-blooded ruthlessness. So she just let it all out.

"Miranda…I'm sorry"

"So am I" she said simply. Her tone then became one of contempt and also, Shepard suspected, self-loathing.

"_Support groups to discuss my condition_" Miranda said ruefully, mimicking the doctor's words in the message with as much contempt as was humanly possible. _Adoption._"Miranda said the word like it was the most disgusting and abhorrent thing in the universe before her voice rose in anger: "_**Its not the same**_! It will _never _be the same! I'll _never _be able to hold a baby girl or boy in my arms! I will _never _know what its like to have that kind of love…a parent for her child…" she scoffed. "My own bastard of a father never bothered to show me what its like, and he couldn't have even if he tried"

"Miranda, I know this sounds insincere, but maybe there is a chance—"

Miranda cut him off, now absolutely furious, and Shepard found himself seriously regretting his choice of words: "I am _completely _barren Shepard!" Miranda snapped at him. "There is _no _hope for me!"

Shepard said nothing in response at first before saying: "Miranda…you know that you'll always have me right?"

"Will I?"

"Yes you will. I am never going to leave you Miranda. Even if you can't ever have children and we have to live out the rest of our lives alone, I _will never leave you_" Shepard said forcefully.

Miranda said nothing response, instead just staring at Shepard with her blue-gray eyes, still filled with tears. Shepard wiped them away as they slid down her face.

"I love you Miranda"

"I…I love you too Shepard" Miranda said, finally managing to fight back her tears successfully. The two then fell silent as Shepard continued to hug her tightly before they shared a light kiss.

"Now come on. Let's get out of here"

-X-

Shepard walked into the Tech Lab on the Normandy, a datapad with the downloaded Shadow Broker file of Miranda in hand. He knew that what he was doing was likely a fool's errand. A fantasy with no chance of being made into a reality. But he had to try it. For Miranda's sake. He wasn't going to give up if there was even a slight chance…

With a deep breath of preparation, Shepard walked in, seeing Mordin busy at work at what looked, quite truthfully, like a massive lump of dark gray wires and circuitry that he would have just as soon mistaken for a piece of debris or garbage.

Looking up from his work on the "Reaper Heart" Mordin turned to Shepard and smiled.

"Shepard, how can I help?"

"Uh, yeah, Mordin, have you got a minute? I have something important, and you're the only person I can trust to get it done"

"Hm. Curious. Response cryptic, suggests challenge, also mixed in subtle praise of my scientific ability…"

"Mordin will you help me or not?"

Mordin nodded. "Of course, of course. Work on Reaper Heart can wait. What is it you need Shepard?"

Shepard prepared himself and got ready to hand Mordin Solus the datapad he held. Before he did he told Mordin: "Nobody can know about this by the way"

"Ah. Secret then. Top secret project perhaps? No, no, only datapad. Schematics then? Hm, must take a look"

Mordin took the datapad and looked it over. "Hmm…curious, curious. Fascinating. Also somewhat depressing…what is it you would like me to do Shepard?"

"I…was wondering if you could take that to Doctor Chakwas and see if the two of you could…figure out if Miranda's infertility is reversible?"

"Hmm…interesting challenge. Unclear with facts given. Seems unlikely that infertility is irreversible but hard to say without additional data. See what I can do" He finished in his usual upbeat and assuring tone.

Shepard nodded. "That's all I can ask for"

As Shepard left, Mordin called out to him: "Wait, Shepard, one more thing: 100% accurate conclusion only possible if Executive Lawson studied in person. Will have to convince her to do so." Mordin shook his head before finishing. "Problematic"

"Maybe…you should leave that to me" Shepard suggested.

Mordin nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes of course. Will do that. In the meantime share what I have with Doctor Chakwas. Be there if you need anything else"

Shepard nodded. Now he had to go convince Miranda to go through with this.

_What fun that will be… _Shepard thought.

He took the elevator down to the Crew Quarters and went to the door to Miranda's office. Breathing in a deep sigh of preparation, Shepard opened the door and walked in.

"Commander, what can I do for you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Miranda…I need to ask you something"

**Author's Note: And there we go! The conclusion to my novelization! So how did I do? And yes, I am keeping the stuff with Miranda and her infertility open-ended…at least for now. Be sure to check out my next Mass Effect fan-fics, including a Jack-Miranda one.**


End file.
